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| PSC Chairman Richard E. Bachmann, together with Project Head Dindin R. Urquiaga and the Technical Working Group, graced the Philippine Sportswriters Association forum on Tuesday inside the Conference Room of the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Malate, Manila. PSC |
MANILA--The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) is gearing up for a more exciting edition of the Batang Pinoy 2025 set to take place in General Santos City from October 25-30, expected to draw around 15,000 athletes nationwide.
As one of PSC’s flagship grassroots sports programs, Batang Pinoy caters to athletes aged 17 and below, serving as a vital platform to discover and develop future stars in Philippine sports.
This year’s edition will feature competitions in 27 sports: aquatics-swimming, archery, arnis, athletics, badminton, basketball (3x3), boxing, chess, cycling, dancesport, futsal, gymnastics, jiu jitsu, judo, kickboxing, karate, muay, pencak silat, sepak takraw, soft tennis, tennis, table tennis, taekwondo, volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling, wushu.
“Our main objective for this year’s Batang Pinoy is to provide the delegates an excellent experience as if they are already competing in a global level of competition they usually see on television and social media,” PSC Chairman Richard Bachmann stated.
Coming off a successful and memorable previous edition of the tournament held in Puerto Princesa City in November last year, this year’s Batang Pinoy will be hosted in the city, famously known as the “Tuna Capital of the Philippines.”
GenSan has proven its capacity to host multiple local and international sporting events since then.
In 1996, GenSan served as co-host of the Palarong Pambansa with the City of Koronadal and the Province of Sarangani, a feat the city has embodied for a long time in taking serious programs dedicated to the youth through sports, as it served as a proud home of world-class sporting icons Manny Pacquiao and Nonito Donaire, Jr.
Within the same year, GenSan hosted the inaugural edition of the Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines-East ASEAN Growth Area or BIMP-EAGA Friendship Games as well as its seventh edition in 2012.
In October last year, the city stressed its commitment to promoting sports across all sectors by staging the Mindanao leg of the Indigenous Peoples Games, another grassroots program of the PSC for members of the indigenous communities.
And just last March, the city served as host of the National Age Group Duathlon, a series organized by the Triathlon Association of the Philippines. Aside from it, GenSan numerously served as a home for school-based tournaments, including the Private Schools Athletic Association (PRISAA) Meet and the Northern Mindanao Regional Athletic Association (NMRAA) Meet, a qualifying stage going to the Palaro.
Preparations started as early as March 18, 2025, with the PSC and General Santos City government starting their talks on conducting the Batang Pinoy.
The PSC’s Technical Working Group, led by its project head Dindin Urquiaga, met with Mayor Lorelie G. Pacquiao and had an initial ocular inspection for the potential venues for competitions.
“We plan to implement innovations that will best serve all the delegates,” Urquiaga said.
Mayor Pacquiao, with the help of their local sports division unit officers, Lady Margaret Manalo and Gerardo Gonzales, expressed the city’s full support in the program and generously offered GenSan as the stage for enabling a stronger sporting community that empowers the youth to be the future source of pride for Philippine sports.
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