MANILA – Basketball, volleyball and football got going at the Palarong Pambansa 2024 in Cebu City on Wednesday.
Davao Region beat Cagayan Valley, 25-20, 25-20, in the secondary boys’ volleyball, witnessed by Vice President and outgoing Education Secretary Sara Duterte at University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) Basak Campus.
Host region Central Visayas, represented by the USJ-R Lady Jaguars, also beat Caraga, 18-25, 25-15, 25-22, in the girls’ secondary Group D.
Calabarzon scored twin wins over Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) in secondary girls (26-16, 25-8) and elementary girls (29-27, 26-24).
Over at the University of San Carlos main campus gym in secondary boys’ basketball, the National Capital Region’s (NCR) National University downed BARMM, 56-49; and Davao stopped Bicol, 83-78.
In secondary boys’ football at Dynamic Herb-Borromeo Sports Complex, Calabarzon blanked Caraga, 6-0, while the Bicol-Western Visayas and Mimaropa-Cordillera Administrative Region matches ended in draws -- 1-1 and 2-2, respectively.
Duterte missed the opening ceremony at Cebu City Sports Center on Tuesday and opted to visit student-athletes recuperating from various minor illnesses at Cebu City Medical Center.
“Sa aming pagpupulong sa preparasyon ng Palarong Pambansa ngayong taon, siniguro natin na handa at maayos ang medical team para mabigyan ng maayos at agarang medical assistance ang mga atletang kalahok, coaches, teachers at lahat ng bumubuo sa (In our preparations for the Palarong Pambansa this year, we made sure that medical teams are ready to provide proper and immediate medical assistance to athletes, coaches, teachers and all delegates of the) Palarong Pambansa,” Duterte said in a statement.
Over 500 athletes from the 17 regions and newcomers National Academy of Sports (NAS) and Philippine Schools Overseas (PSO) will compete until July 16.
The state-funded NAS is a specialized school for sports in Tarlac City while PSO athletes are from accredited schools in the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong.
Likewise making their debut this year are soft tennis, karatedo, football for secondary girls and e-sports, while dancesport will become a regular category.
The other events are archery, arnis, athletics, badminton, baseball, basketball 3x3, billiards, boxing, chess, futsal, gymnastics, pencak silat, sepak takraw, wrestling, wushu, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo and tennis.
Para athletes will compete in athletics, bocce, goal ball and swimming.
NCR was crowned overall champion for the 16th straight time in last year's Marikina City games, with 85 gold, 74 silver and 55 bronze medals.
It likewise regained the elementary (30-22-16) title, which it yielded to Southern Tagalog in 2019 before the national games was halted due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and topped the secondary division (55-52-39) again.
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