Baguio City successfully defended its crown to emerge as overall champion once again at the conclusion of this year’s Batang Pinoy National Finals 2019 held in Puerto Princesa City.
Baguio retained its overall championship title for the third time with 61 gold medals collected by its athletes from various sports events.
The week-long national youth sports competition organized by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) for athletes under 15-years-old saw the Summer Capital winning its third championship with also 45 silver and 70 bronze medals against 248 other participating local government unit (LGU) teams.
“Ang overall champion for Batang Pinoy National Finals 2019 ay ang Baguio — it’s their third time. Tingin namin dahil sa nakatutok ang pamahalaan ng Baguio sa sports kaya ganoon na lang ang lakas nila pagdating sa sports,” Anna Ruiz of the PSC National Secretariat said.
An estimated 272 coaches and athletes from Baguio arrived on August 23 to compete in some of the 31 Batang Pinoy events.
In total, Baguio City will go home with 175 medals from Batang Pinoy hosted at the Ramon V. Mitra Sports Complex by the city government.
Its delegates dominated mostly in combat sports events such as taekwondo, judo, muay thai, and wrestling.
In taekwondo, Baguio City collected a total of 28 medals — eight gold, eight silver, and 12 bronze; in judo, the athletes won 21 medals — 10 gold, five silver, and six bronze; in muay thai, they won 17 medals — 10 gold, four silver, and three bronze.
It also excelled in wushu, collecting a total of 25 medals — 14 gold, seven silver, and four bronze.
Cebu City came next in the ranking of the big winners with 36 gold, 34 silver, and 35 bronze medals, followed by third placer Davao City with 31 gold, 30 silver, and 41 bronze medals.
The fourth place in the Batang Pinoy 2019 Top 5 Winners went to Laguna Province with 29 gold, 26 silver, and 18 bronze medals. The fifth place was won by Quezon City with 26 gold, 25 silver, and 23 bronze medals.
