Dickie Bachmann —INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo came a long way from a struggling young lifter from Zamboanga City to a world champion and then the Philippines’ first gold medal winner in the Olympics.

Like a lot of Filipino past and current sports heroes, Diaz-Naranjo’s journey began in the Batang Pinoy Games, which will play its latest edition starting Oct. 25 in General Santos City with an expected turnout of at least 15,000 athletes all looking to be the future toast of the country.

“Our main objective for this year’s Batang Pinoy is to provide the delegates an excellent experience as if they are already competing in a global level they usually see in televisions and social media,’’ said Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Chair Richard Bachmann during Tuesday’s PSA Forum.

The flagship grassroots sports development program of the government through the PSC will have a Games manual for the first time, similar to international competitions such as the Asian Youth Games and Youth Olympic Games, to name a few.

Aside from the digital manual where all the information and details about the event are available, interactive educational programs that focus on safe sports, antidoping, nutrition and women in sports, among others, will be present at the venues.

Young talents

Coming off a successful and memorable previous edition held in Puerto Princesa City last year, the Batang Pinoy will showcase young talents from aquatics/swimming, archery, arnis, athletics, badminton, 3×3 basketball, boxing, chess, cycling, dancesport, futsal, gymnastics, jiujitsu and judo.

Also included in the calendar of events are kickboxing, karate, muay, pencak silat, sepak takraw, soft tennis, table tennis, taekwondo, volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling and wushu.

“This is where my career actually began,” said Diaz-Naranjo, who captured the breakthrough Olympic gold for the country in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. “After joining the Batang Pinoy in 2004, it gave me the opportunity to join the national team and eventually compete internationally.’’

All those childhood memories in the Batang Pinoy came rushing back when Diaz-Naranjo brought her team from Jala-Jala, Rizal to Puerto Princesa City in November last year and won several medals. INQ