By MARK REY MONTEJO
LAOAG CITY – The stage is set for the 65th edition of the Palarong Pambansa with organizers making sure all venues and necessities are taken care of for the weeklong multisports grassroots competition.
According to the competition’s OIC Usec. for Operations and Secretary-General Malcolm Garma, they have already conducted regular inspections of the venues and they were satisfied that everything passed the standard after several problems in the previous edition occurred, including the nullification of 11 track and field tournament records set last year due to inaccuracies in the track oval measurement.
“Since we finalized the date for the Palaro, we have already started our concrete plans and preparation for the playing venues,” said Garma during
games’ press conference at DepEd Schools Division of Ilocos Norte.
“And part of that is really to make sure that all our playing venues are within the required standard. We solicited the help of the PSC (Philippine Sports Commission) and various NSAs (National Sports Associations), and together with tournament directors, officials, we roamed and checked the final venues,” he added.
Garma also said they are equipped in preventing health-related incidents during the competition, especially with the high heat index in the city.
“May mga regions po tayong ‘di sanay sa ganitong init, so we’ll try to mitigate as much as possible yung effect ng heat in playing venues. We’ve made efforts para ma-address kaagad yung mga concerns sa tubig and electricity, with the help of LGUs and other partners,” he said.
The opening ceremonies are underway at press time with no less than President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos and Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo in attendance.
Native games such as patintero, kadang kadang and sack race usher the tournament on Sunday, May 25, with the actual competition proper firing off on Monday, May 26.
A total of 22 regular sports will be competed that include archery, arnis, athletics, badminton, baseball, basketball, billiards, boxing, chess, football, futsal, gymnastics, pencak silat, softball, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, volleyball, wrestling, and wushu.
Also taking center stage are demonstration sports (dancesports and weightlifting), five exhibitions (cheerdance, eSports, obstacle course, traditional game, kickboxing), and four parasports (athletics, bocce, goalball and swimming).
