Albay all set for Palarong Pambansa

It’s all set for the staging of the 2016 edition of the Palarong Pambansa scheduled on April 10 to 16 at the Albay Sports and Tourism Complex in Legazpi City, Albay.

More than 10,000 athletes, coaches, officials and expectators are expected to arrive in the multi-sporting event for elementary and secondary students.

This time, there will be 18 regions competing with the addition of the newly-established Negros Island Region.

Defending overall champion National Capital Region as well as powerhouse teams Southern Tagalog Region-A, Western Visayas Region, Central Visayas Region and host Bicol Region will slug it out for the general championship.

Some 200 gold medals are up for grabs in the seven-day meet. There are 15 events in elementary and 17 events in secondary including four demonstration sports—futsal, wushu, billiards and wrestling.

The Department of Education and the local government of Albay are hoping to discover fresh talents from the grassroots level for future international competitions.

The Palarong Pambansa served as springboard of some famous Filipino athletes including multi-titled tanker Eric Buhain, sprint queen Lydia De Vega-Mercado, long jump specialist Elma Muros-Posadas ang former Azkals member Chieffy Caligdong.

Palarong Pambansa was originally named as Bureau of Public Schools-Interscholastic Athletics Association Games (BPISAA).

But the organizers renamed it to Palarong Pambansa in 1974.

Source: MERYGEE I. JAVIER / http://www.manilatimes.net/albay-all-set-for-palarong-pambansa/253785/