Davao City-Young athletes from the four member-countries of the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (Bimp-Eaga) will troop to Brunei in November this year for the 6th Bimp-Eaga Friendship Games.
In a preparatory meeting held at the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) satellite office this city, local government representatives from the cities of Panabo, Tagum and Marawi and the provinces of Davao del Sur and Davao Oriental expressed their interest to participate in the
biennial friendship games slated on November 28 to 30, 2008.
PSC Mindanao head Joseph Encabo said that for the past years, there has been a strong show of interest among local government units (LGUs) in Mindanao to participate in the games, which have been created to foster camaraderie among the youth in the four countries.
Each Eaga country will send 75 delegates to join the games.
The athletes will compete in seven sporting events: athletics, aquatic sports (swimming and diving), badminton, futsal, pencak silat, sepak takraw and tennis.
Futsal is indoor version of football while pencak silat is Indonesian martial arts.
A Indonesia Information Exhibit will also be mounted as a side activity of the games to increase awareness of the youth on tourism and economic opportunities of the sub-region.
“The friendship games is an initiative that should not only foster sportsmanship among the athletes but should also be seen as an avenue to strengthen the unity and bond of the cultures of Eaga as this will be a strong foundation for the economic cooperation of the four countries,” said undersecretary Virgilio Leyretana, chairman of the Mindanao economic development council (Medco).
Leyretana said that Medco will extend its full support and assistance to ensure the successful participation of the Philippine delegation to the games.
The Bimp-Eaga Friendship Games was initiated by the Philippines in 1996. After a five-year lull, it was revived in 2003 with the creation of the Bimp-Eaga sports council spearheaded by the PSC. (Medco)
