MANILA – Champions of the Milo Little Olympics regional qualifying events from Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao and the National Capital Region (NCR) are slated to face off in Cebu next month for the National Finals.

This is the first time that the Milo Little Olympics will hold a national finals, according to Milo Sports Events and PR Executive Lester Castillo.

Castillo told abs-cbnNEWS.com that previous Milo Little Olympics events just held regional finals.

The Milo Little Olympics is a nationwide inter-school sports competition for elementary and high school students. It was launched in 1988.

In this year’s inaugural national finals, Castillo said they expect a “very competitive” contest. He also revealed that the opening ceremony will be grand.

Castillo, meantime, earlier told ABS-CBN News: “We want to elevate the competition to a whole new level.”

“Dito natin malalaman ang tinatawag nating best of the best o tinatawag nating champion of champions,” he added.

The Milo Little Olympics National Finals will be held at the Cebu City Sports Center from Oct. 23 to 25.

The regional qualifying events were held during the first two weekends of September in Manila (NCR), Lingayen (Luzon), Cebu (Visayas) and Cagayan de Oro (Mindanao).

Regional awarding ceremonies were held last Sept. 19 and 20 to recognize the athletes who shone in their respective events. -- With a report from ABS-CBN's "Umagang Kay Ganda