Nationals, aspirants show stuff in PNG

MANILA, Philippines – Team Philippines mainstays and national pool bets along with aspiring athletes will pit skills in 32 sports in the Philippine National Games (PNG) Championships from March 7-11 in Lingayen, Pangasinan.

Close to 1,000 athletes, including elite bets and greenhorns who excelled in the regional qualifying legs held last year, will engage in various fronts in the national finals of the Philippine Sports Commission-organized tourney.

According to PNG project director Jay Alano, the games will feature 610 qualifiers from Luzon, 98 from Mindanao and 204 from the Visayas against the battled-scarred veterans and international achievers as well as bets from host Pangasinan.

Main hub for the competition will be at Narciso Ramos Sports Complex.

On tap are archery, arnis, athletics, badminton, beach volleyball, billiards, boxing, chess, cyclng, dancesport, dragonboat, fencing, fin swimming, football, judo, karatedo, lawn tennis, muay thai, pencak silat, sepak takraw, softball, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, underwater hockey, volleyball, weightlifting, and wushu.

Three sports will be held outside Pangasinan and at different dates. Triathlon will be played in Subic on Feb. 20-21 while baseball will be held in Manila on April 12-17 and rugby will be staged on Mar. 25 also in Manila.

The organizing PSC has required national athletes on its payroll to take part and prove their worth against aspiring bets.

“Our national athletes are given monthly allowance to train and prepare for local and international competitions that is why they need to show that they deserve to be in the national squad,” said PSC executive director Guillermo Iroy. “Our policy remains that kapag natalo sila, aalisan sila ng mga natatanggap nilang mga benefits (if they lose, the PSC will strip them of benefits).”