Batang Pinoy 2025 kicks off in GenSan, boasts 19,000-strong athlete delegation

Philippine grassroots sports activities takes maintain in Mindanao because the 2025 Batang Pinoy kicks off in Normal Santos Metropolis with 27 sports activities contested by athletes from every of the nation’s 188 native authorities items

GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines – The 2025 version of the Batang Pinoy Nationwide Championships — one of many greatest in historical past — formally kicked off on Saturday, October 25, in Normal Santos Metropolis. 

Round 19,000 athletes, 4,400 coaches, and 1,260 officers from 188 native authorities items throughout the nation converge within the seaside metropolis for sports activities supremacy from till October 30. 

Competitors is scattered over three age brackets — 12 to 13 years previous, 14 to fifteen, and 16 to 17.

A complete of 27 sports activities will likely be contested, headlined by main occasions like athletics, 3×3 basketball, gymnastics, swimming, volleyball and varied martial arts like arnis, jiu-jitsu, judo, kickboxing, karate, muay and taekwondo. 

Pasig Metropolis seeks to defend the championship a 12 months after ending the four-year reign of Baguio Metropolis, whereas host Normal Santos hopes to surpass its fifth-place end within the 2024 version.

Boxing’s solely eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao, Tokyo Olympics weightlifting gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo, and taekwondo jin Elisha Baquial served as the primary highlights of the opening ceremony because the trio led the ceremonial cauldron lighting.

Diaz-Naranjo, who’s a Batang Pinoy product representing Zamboanga, will likely be teaching Rizal as soon as once more alongside husband and fellow mentor Julius. 

“I’m blissful that me and my ninong (godfather Manny Pacquiao) are each right here to encourage the younger athletes,” Diaz-Naranjo informed reporters in Filipino. 

“That is the place I began weightlifting, and I’m glad that I’m giving again and supply inspiration to them.”

In keeping with the occasion’s organizers, the Philippine Sports activities Fee, this 12 months’s total champion will take house P5 million, with the second to fifth placers then receiving 1,000,000 lower than the final. – Rappler.com