Together with the provincial government, Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson has been keen in promoting the integration and expansion of sustainable grassroots sports development programs in the province. As a part of that effort, the Provincial Sports Office is gearing up for the upcoming Abanse Negrense Panaad Sportsfest, which will be held at the Panaad Park and Stadium on June 28-29.
It will be a 2-day multi-sports festival featuring eight different sport disciplines, including arnis, athletics, boxing, chess, football, karatedo, softball, and taekwondo. The age categories for arnis include kids (10-below and 11-12 years old), junior (13-17 years old), and elite (18 years old and above) boys and girls.
For athletics, there will be two major categories – 13 & under and 17 & under, boys and girls, while it is 12 & under and 17 & under boys and girls for chess. For boxing, the age categories are kids (11-13 years old), school and junior boys (14-16 years old), and youth boys (17-18 years old). And as for the weight categories, it begins with cottonweight (26kgs) up to light bantamweight (54kgs).
Football, on the other hand, comprises 10-U (Mix), 12-U (Mix), 14-U (boys and girls), 16-U (boys and girls), and 18-U (boys and girls) categories, and will feature a 7-a-side tournament. It will be a 12 & under category for softball and for taekwondo, including toddler boys and girls (8 years old & above), grade school boys and girls (11 years old & below), cadet boys and girls (born 2010-2012), and junior men and women (born 2007-2009).
Lastly, karatedo will feature the kata and kumite (novice and open kumite) events. The kata events are composed of the newbie, novice, intermediate, advanced, and synchronized kata (boys and girls) categories, while the kumite events include children, cadets, juniors, novice, and intermediate categories.
The insights to launch the inaugural Abanse Negrense Panaad Sportsfest came following several inquiries and feedbacks from various local government units (LGUs) regarding the inclusion of sports activities during the yearly Panaad sa Negros Festival. And since the provincial government heard the feedback, the Provincial Sports Office explored the concept of conducting a multi-sports tournament for the Negrense youth during their school break. Therefore, the Panaad Sportsfest project was initiated under the Abanse Negrense Sports Programs spearheaded by Gov. Lacson.*
