BAGUIO CITY -- Dozens of arnis athletes, who will be chosen to represent the country for the Philippine-hosted 2019 Southeast Asian Games (SEA), will have their six months training in this mountain resort city.
Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri, president of the Philippine Eskrima, Kali and Arnis Association of the Philippines, said in his recent visit here that he was impressed with the performance of the arnis athletes from Baguio and Benguet in the recently concluded Batang Pinoy 2018.
"He will recommend to the arnis athletes, who will represent the country, to undergo the six-month, rigid, high-altitude training in this mountain resort," city information officer Dexter See told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) on Tuesday.
See said the senator has seen the suitability of this place as a venue for the conduct of high-altitude training for the country’s athletes.
Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) officer Celia Kiram, who represented PSC chairman William "Butch" Ramirez in the closing program of the Batang Pinoy here last Sept. 21, said the sporting body has chosen Baguio and Benguet as among the country's accredited regional sports centers.
The PSC has given the two highland localities PHP 18 million worth of sports equipment for the continuous enhancement of their respective sports development programs.
For the holding of the Batang Pinoy event during the typhoon season, the PSC also gave the local governments of Baguio and Benguet a total of 2,500 sleeping mats for the young delegates who were locked down in billeting schools during the recent onslaught of Typhoon Ompong (Mangkhut). (PNA)
