With only a week to go before the much-anticipated Palarong Pambansa 2024 in Cebu City, Western Visayas’ 993 delegates are ready for the biggest annual sporting event in the country.

This year’s edition of Palarong Pambansa will feature 24 sporting events — archery, arnis, athletics, badminton, baseball, basketball, billiards, boxing, chess, dance sport, football, futsal, gymnastics, pencak sikat, speak takraw, softball, volleyball, wrestling, wushu, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, and paragames.

The WV delegation is composed of 601 student-athletes; 136 coaches, assistant coaches, and chaperones; and 196 members of the management and working committees.

The elementary division is fielding 50 athletes while the secondary group is sending 73 athletes. In addition, 13 athletes are set to play for paragames.

Meanwhile, the Iloilo Provincial Government has allotted a total of P8-million budget for Ilonggo athletes.

Ray Cabarles of the Iloilo Sports Office said the players are undergoing rigid training as part of its preparation, hoping to bring home the coveted wins.

“We [have been] training them for weeks already and it will wrap up this week. Before this training, I’m sure our athletes are 100 percent ready for the competition,” he added.

The Iloilo City Government also distributed cash allowances to Ilonggo athletes at the Iloilo City Hall Penthouse on Monday, July 1.

In a press conference last week, Cebu City Acting Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia said that it’s all systems go for the week-long Palarong Pambansa, which is set to commence on July 9 and will end on July 16.

“We are all very much prepared. . . We will make sure that all the preparations will lead to the success of Palaro,” he said.

Last year, WVRAA finished first runner-up, bagging 60 gold, 45 silver, 44 bronze medals. The team looks forward to improving their last year’s medal haul and hopes to break records especially in athletics.IMT Sports

REPORTING by Vincent Dave Molavin, West Visayas State University College of Communication intern; EDITING by Elyrose Naorbe