...sportsmanship

Palace: Aquino pleased with Filipino sports victories in int'l arena

12/06/2010

JAM SISANTE, GMANews.TV

 

President Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" Aquino III is pleased with the recent sports victories of Filipinos in the international arena, including the Philippine football team's victory in Vietnam on Sunday and the boxing victories of Saranggani Rep. Manny Pacquiao and Nonito Donaire.

"President Aquino conveys his congratulations to the Philippine team’s victory yesterday at the AFF Suzuki Cup in Vietnam," presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said in a statement issed on Monday.

Lacierda said the president is pleased with the victory, as it came on the heels of recent Filipino sports victories in the international arena:

Nonito Donaire’s winning of the WBC Continental Bantamweight Championship;

the World Boxing Council (WBC) super-welterweight win of Pacquiao, and

success of the Philippine participants in the recently concluded Asian Games.

"These victories affirm yet again the Filipino’s drive to excel, noting further that the Philippine team’s triumph in the Suzuki Cup signifies an enthusiasm to join the community of nations in the international arena of football," Lacierda said.

"The President has expressed his support for sports endeavors where Filipinos excel and bring pride to our country," he added.

Sports victories

The victory of the 151st-ranked Philippines against Vietnam, 13 notches higher in the FIFA world rankings, was the biggest upset in the tournament, and perhaps even in the history of Southeast Asian football.

The AFF Suzuki Cup is a biennial football competition organized by the ASEAN Football Federation and contested by the national teams of Southeast Asia.

Donaire, 27, a native of Bohol, was hailed as the new WBC Continental Bantamweight Champion over the weekend after beating Ukrainian Wladimir Sidorenko via technical knockout. The referee stopped the fight with 1:48 still remaining in the fourth round of a scheduled 12-round bantamweight title match at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

Donaire's victory came less than a month after Pacquiao, who is the incumbent congressman of Sarangani province, battered Margarito in their much-awaited boxing bout in Texas.

The Philippines won three gold, four silver, and nine bronze medals in the recently-concluded 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou, China.

Meanwhile, aside from the recent victory over Margarito, Pacquiao had won the World Boxing Council (WBC) Flyweight Champion in 1998-1999; International Boxing Federation (IBF) Super Bantamweight Champion in 2001-2004; RING Featherweight Champion in 2003-2005; WBC and RING Super Featherweight Champion in 2008; and WBC Lightweight Champion, 2008-2009.

He is also the current champion of the International Boxing Organization (IBO) and RING Junior Welterweight Champion as well as in the World Boxing Organization, and reigning World Boxing Organization (WBO) Welterweight Champion.

Pacquiao’s record in the ring now stands at 57 fights, of which 52 are wins (38 by way of knockout), three losses, and two draws. – VVP, GMANews.TV