PUERTO PRINCESA, Palawan -- Action in 24 of the 30 sports including centerpiece athletics and swimming fires off on Sunday, Nov. 24, in the 2024 Batang Pinoy Championships in various venues here.

Athletics, where it would most likely give the event’s first gold medal, will be held inside the RVM Sports Complex along with swimming, archery, futsal, obstacle course, sepak takraw, tennis, weightlifting and wushu.

Hostilities in arnis will be held at the Robinsons Palawan Activity Center, badminton at the Puerto Princesa City Coliseum, beach volleyball at the Puerto Princesa City Baywalk Park, chess at the Palawan State University Performing Arts Center, cycling (BMX) at the Sta. Monica Motocross Race Track, gymnastics (rhythmic and trampoline) at the Palawan Provincial Capitol Convention Center, judo at the Puerto Princesa Pilot Elementary School, kickboxing at SM City Puerto Princesa, muay at NCCC Mall Activity Center, soft tennis at the ESJ and Karawatan Tennis Courts, taekwondo at PALECO Court, and wrestling at the Mendoza Park.

Other sports that will be competed in the coming days are breaking, dancesport, jiu-jitsu, karate, kurash and pencak silat.

Close to 12,000 athletes from 177 local government units (LGUs) have signed up to join the weeklong multisports event, which is one of the grassroots sports programs of the Philippine Sports Commission.

“I’ve experienced the Southeast Asian Games, the Asian Games and the Olympics, but the event that actually means something to me is our grassroots program,” said PSC Chairman Richard Bachmann during the Welcome Dinner on Friday, Nov. 22, at the Princesa Garden Resort and Spa.

“It’s always meaningful to find our next athlete that would don the Philippine jersey in the future -- that was always something that I enjoy -- so I thank all of you for making this possible,” he added.

Puerto Princesa City Mayor Lucilo Bayron also thanked the PSC for allowing the city to host such an event as it aligns with its goals to boost the city’s sports tourism.

“We are promoting Puerto Princesa as a major sports tourism destination and I hope that this lays a strong foundation of partnership for a successful event,” said Bayron, whose city also hosted a dragon boat world event a weeks back and are also set to host the BIMP-EAGA Friendship Games early in December.

Since its inaugural iteration in 1999 in Bacolod, Batang Pinoy has championed grassroots athletes from rural to urban areas of the archipelago along with the Palarong Pambansa.

It produced numerous elite athletes that include Olympic medalists Hidilyn Diaz in weightlifting, Carlos Yulo in gymnastics and Eumir Marcial in boxing.