...The Southeast Asian Game host (opening)

Philippines showcases cultural heritage to kick off 30th Sea Games

New Straits Times
30 November 2019


MANILA: The Philippines staged a spectacular opening ceremony for the 30th SEA Games at the world’s biggest indoor arena, the Philippine Arena, in Bulacan, near here, tonight.


In a departure from tradition, the opening ceremony was held in an indoor arena rather than a stadium.

Also, for the first time in the biennial Games’ 60-year history, the games cauldron was placed at a different location, at the New Clark City Athletics Stadium, some 90km from Bulacan, and the lighting of the cauldron was shown on screen at the 55,000 capacity arena.

The extravaganza started after Filipino singer Lani Misalucha sang the republic’s national anthem, which was followed by an extraordinary performance themed “The Roots of our Strength”, showcasing the culture and heritage of the nation.

The spectators were treated to a series of warrior dances from the Bagobo, the Kalinga, the Maguindanao, Islamic and the pre-Hispanic Visayans.

The later part of the ceremony was powered by modern and hip-hop performances led by local artistes Inigo Pascual, Robert Sena, Apl.de.Ap and KZ Tandingan, among others.

The contingents received loud cheers from the audience as they paraded into the arena in alphabetical order, starting with Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Timor Leste and Vietnam, before host nation the Philippines ended the march.

Led by flag-bearer and 2018 bowling world champion Rafiq Ismail, the Malaysian contingent were represented by a delegation of about 100, including chef de mission Datuk Megat Zulkarnain Omardin and his two deputies, Nurul Huda Abdullah and Ahmad Faedzal Md Ramli.


With the men dressed in white baju melayu and red samping with tengkolok, and the women in white baju kurung and selendang with Jalur Gemilang motif, and black shoes, the multi-racial Malaysian contingent, the hosts of the previous games, walked past the crowd proudly, symbolising the multiculturalism of the country.

World renowned Filipino boxers Manny Pacquiao and Nesthy Petecio were given the honour as the torchbearers before they jointly lit the cauldron to officially mark the beginning of the 30th SEA Games, after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte had declared open the Games.

Themed ‘We Win As One’, the Games will run for 12 days until the closing ceremony at the New Clark City Athletics Stadium on Dec 11.

More than 8,000 athletes from the 10 ASEAN countries and Timor Leste will compete in 530 events in 56 sports at the three main clusters, namely Manila, Clark and Subic.

The Philippines have hosted the SEA Games three times before – in 1981, 1991 and 2005.

This year’s Games see the introduction of a few new sports such as arnis, jujitsu, kickboxing, underwater hockey and esports.

Defending champions Malaysia have sent a strong contingent of 773 athletes and 339 officials to participate in 52 sports, targeting 70 gold, 51 silver and 105 bronze medals, which is expected to place them fourth overall.– BERNAMA

...the world's most diverse football team

Philippines taking multicultural dream on to global stage

FIFA.com
19 November 2019

There is not a national squad like that of the Philippines anywhere else on the planet. This statement can only be understood by delving a bit deeper into the team’s recent history.

In 2005, an anonymous video games fan got in touch with the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) to inform them that Phil and James Younghusband, two English brothers coming through Chelsea’s youth set-up, had a Philippine mother and were eligible to play for the Azkals.

In a region where basketball and boxing tend to take centre stage, it was essential for the PFF to find a way of boosting football’s profile and popularity. And that is where history plays a decisive role: throughout the last century, Filipinos were long associated with searching for opportunities far outside their borders. As a consequence, thousands of Filipino citizens and their descendants play in countries with a richer footballing history.

The Miracle of Hanoi

The idea of unearthing players in far-flung parts of the world began to take shape, but results did not initially follow. The PFF decided not to enter the qualifying campaigns for the 2006 and 2010 FIFA World Cup™ tournaments, because, despite the significant economic and logistical efforts being made, the team’s level of play was still too low. In the end, the transformation of the Filipino national team was achieved through a focus on improving competitiveness, which would eventually bear fruit at major tournaments.

One of the most striking examples of tangible progress came at the AFF Championship, a competition which pits some of the best nations in south-east Asia against each other every two years. In 2010, Vietnam – hosts and defending champions – were drawn to play Philippines in the second match of the group stage – a daunting challenge for a side that had lost five and drawn one of their last six games.

However, an eye-catching performance by the Azkals led to what is now commonly known as the 'Miracle of Hanoi'. Goals from the English-born pair of Chris Greatwich and Phil Younghusband silenced the 40,000 home fans, in the new mixed-race generation’s first landmark victory.

From video games to social networks

Following that memorable success, a number of players with Filipino parentage expressed a desire to represent the national team.

Sometimes, it was the PFF that took the first step. “My mum is from the Philippines, and they contacted me to find out if I wanted to be part of the team,” forward Angel Guirado – born in Spain, and a Filipino international since 2011 – told FIFA.com.

On other occasions, word of mouth and the emergence of social networks provided the link. “I had a friend who played with Angel Guirado in Spain, and I’d heard the story,” explained Carli De Murga, who is another Spaniard with a Filipino mother, and who has also represented Philippines since 2011. “I contacted Angel through Facebook, and he put me in touch with the Federation. I sent them a video and they called me up straight away.”

Currently, the squad includes footballers born in 12 different countries: Germany, England and Spain make up the majority, but Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Scotland, Australia, Italy, Switzerland, Japan and the United States also feature.

What is it actually like to be part of such a multicultural squad? “The atmosphere is brilliant,” said De Murga. “Personally speaking, playing in the same jersey as people with so many different cultures and customs has really helped me to mature. It broadens your horizons. And I love that everyone’s also quite alike, and that we all feel comfortable in each other’s company.”

Syria showdown key to World Cup dream

Playing in this diverse and familiar environment has started to pay dividends. In January the Filipinos competed in the AFC Asian Cup for the first time, and they currently find themselves in an advantageous position in the second round of Asian qualifying for Qatar 2022.

Philippines lie third in Group A, with the same number of points as China PR. A draw in their upcoming match with Syria would be enough to move them up into second spot (based on their record, the runners-up may qualify for the third round), at least until the next round of games in March.

“That would be amazing – a fantastic achievement!” said Guirado from the team’s camp in Dubai, where the match is due to take place. “In football, nothing is impossible. The result in our first game with Syria (a 5-2 defeat) did flatter them quite a bit.”

“It’s now or never,” said De Murga. “We have an historic opportunity. Syria have a lot of talent up front, but they sometimes leave themselves open at the back. We have to play as a unit, try to frustrate them, and do them damage any time we get a chance.”

Curiously, Phil Younghusband, the youngest of the two long-serving siblings, announced his retirement from football on Monday. He bids farewell to the game as Philippines’ most capped player (108 appearances) and their all-time top scorer (52 goals), and will likely look on with great excitement as the world’s most multicultural team attempt to pull off another impressive result on Tuesday.

...the Philippine Sports Champions

Philippines Rising: 3 World Champion in 1 month!

New Worlds| George Siy
Manila Times
10 November 2019

“For everything there is a season”, and it seems to be a winning season for the Philippines — three world championships within a month! And more exceptionally, they are in areas of excellence the Philippines has not achieved in the world arena before.

“Kuya Caloy” Yulo winner of the World Artistic Gymnastics Championship, got his start from, perhaps, a doting grandfather who saw him playing at tumbling and brought him to the Gymnastics Association of the Philippines. In an unusual story in Philippine sports, and much to her credit, head of gymnastics Cynthia Carreon perceived Carlos’s exceptional talent and discipline, and worked to obtain special support for him, who started training five hours a day, 6 days a week, staying in Japan under Coach Kugimiya for three years before winning this championship. President Rodrigo Duterte, Manny Pangilinan, Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso have given cash rewards and recognition to the young star who, at 19 and still below his peak, is already seeded No. 1 in gymnastics in the coming Olympics.

Wesley So was not so lucky… taught chess by his father, playing in localities, he became our national chess champion at 14, and ninth youngest grandmaster in history. Going through personal and family issues, he had to live through very lean times, and had to consider giving up chess. Eventually he was adopted by Filipina actress in the US, Lotis Key and her partner Kabigting, who supported Wesley in his career. Winning competition after competition, he won the US Championship in 2017, skyrocketed to No. 2 in the world, and began gunning for No. 1. Just this past October, he faced the world chess champ Magnus Carlsen “mano y mano,” in the Fischer Random World Chess Championship.

Random Chess, a variant that allows for the shuffling of the pieces in the onset, was promoted by Bobby Fischer whose goal was to eliminate what he considered the complete dominance of openings preparation (it is standard for the top players to have memorized the first 15 to 20 moves) in classical chess, replacing it with creativity and talent.

Raw talent. Wesley crushed Carlsen by four wins, 2 draws, no losses, for a total 13.5 to 2.5 score. Stunning was not only the turnaround of positions, it was a breathtaking display of talent, creativity, resilience — a true story of winning above tremendous starting odds.

It is sad that he had to play for another country, his talent was not sufficiently recognized and supported here. There are many others unrecognized in different fields of sports, sciences, arts, academe, etc.. It is an established and accepted practice to have a “sports nationality,” which athletes can choose, without giving up your original nationality, and this is accepted by the US and the International Olympic Committee and most countries. While we are proud of their wins, it also brings a sigh, and to some perhaps some tears that we have to let top athletes, scholars, and so many of our countrymen go elsewhere to have a better or even a decent life, or treatment.

Wesley has indicated the care he still has for the Philippines and the chess players here, although we rightfully should hear of the areas where improvements are needed in both amount and organization of support. We have to work to better the circumstances in our own country.

The problems are beyond money alone, as sports associations positions are often seen as rewards to give out, or posts to put friends or people owed to, out of major harm’s way politically, with some budget and power to play with. Appointees are often not knowledgeable about the sports or crafts, and cannot identify who are the true talents, and who are just early or late bloomers. Even when recognized, sports is replete with stories of athletes selected by the officials because of personal preferences, and politics rather than ability. Budgets often go to perks rather than training or competition. Private enterprises are now getting more active in support of sports, scholarships, etc… and partnerships are sorely needed. Both organizations and athletes may need to know better how to raise support and glamorize a sport to the public, but still retain the essence of excellence in sports.

Another world champion for the Philippines this month: Dr Calixto Chikiamco and Foundation for Economic Freedom (FEF) won the Atlas Network Templeton Award, one of the world’s top prizes in — in a field you would not normally think the Philippines to be a power in — think tanks’ advocacies. FEF is made up of the top economists in the country, the past, present, and perhaps future ones, and some friends. Romeo Bernardo, Virata, Climaco, Medalla, Karl Chua, Calixto, Olivar, etc… thinkers of different stripes, from different administrations, but all nationalists studying, pushing, hoping for the country.

This year’s winning project was for the successful liberalization, with the help of government, of restrictions on land patents, which will allow millions of farmers, owners around the country, to monetize, capitalize, utilize in different ways their lands, releasing billions of dollars worth of value for redeployment, increased investment, output, opportunities.

“What the Foundation for Economic Freedom has achieved in truly epic,” according to Dr. Tom G. Palmer, executive vice president of Atlas Network.

The new question is: Enablers are valuable, but the people still have to use newfound powers wisely… will they? People will need help. Our country needs so many moves planned and executed at the same time, continually, to catch up for our decades lost.

All three champions this month, and the people, organizations who supported them deserve our congratulations. We need to get down to how we can produce more champions in all fields. They are sources of inspiration for excellence for our people. We need more enhanced selection, support, and training happening, rather than the stories of the discouraging difficulties most have to go through to get even get decent support or treatment, or even just attention.

Is this season of triple triumphs just a moment in time, or are there better times to come? We wont say the “best is yet to come…” because that implies a decline after that peak. Senator Sonny Angara recently filed the bill for Philippine High School for Sports, which is now on the Senate floor. We not only look forward to, we should all work for “ever better years to come!” Better times are not a matter of luck or “weather” as the Filipino saying goes, “pana-panahon.” Let us plan, organize, work together and execute, not just critique!

...the 2019 WAGC World Finalist

Philippines finishes second overall in 2019 WAGC World Finals

Jean Russel V. David
Manila Times
03 November 2019

The Philippine team finished second overall in the recently concluded 2019 World Amateur Golfers Championship (WAGC) World Finals on October 19 to 26 in Sabah, Malaysia.

Team captain Joseph Uy together with WAGC team members Edsel Opulencia, Chucky Reyes, Fernando Reyes, and Rutsy Ramirez played hot on the last day, shocking heavy favorites that include New Zealand, Japan and Sweden to finish second.

The Philippines carded a total of 1,178 aggregate points banking on rounds of 300, 294, 289, and 295.

Malaysia notched 1,115 (284, 283, 289, 299) to bag the overall title while New Zealand came in at third with 1,182 (298, 294, 300, 290).

In the individual race, Uy of Forest Hills and Chucky of Valley Golf claimed the top honors in Division 2 and 3, respectively.

Skipper Uy scored 290 to beat Henry Gao of New Zealand and Mika Laaksonen of Finland, who had identical 294s.

Chucky, meanwhile, shot a 291 to win by two strokes against Kazuhito Miyawaki of Japan and Alexander Carlsson of Sweden, who had identical 293s.

Opulencia landed fifth with a 303 in Division 1 while Fernando Reyes had a 315 while Rutsy Ramirez scored 306 to settle at the 12th and seventh places in Divisions 4 and 5, respectively.

In the World Amateur Golfers Invitational finals, Division 3’s Ernest Platon and Division 5’s Vicky Herrera both emerged first placers.

Platon dominated his division with a 291 while Herrera outclassed her rivals with a strong 294.

Blake Go of Cebu City finished eighth with a 309 in Division 2.

The tandem of Go and Platon, on the other hand, finished fifth overall out of 75 teams in the 2-man play.

...the FIBA 3x3 Olympic Qualifyer

Philippines earns ticket to FIBA 3x3 Olympic Qualifying Tournament in India


Philip Matel
ESPN
01 November 2019

The Philippines booked a ticket in the FIBA 3x3 Olympic Qualifying Tournament in India from March 18-22 next year.

FIBA made the announcement in a gala in Utsunomiya, Japan on Friday, the site of the 2019 World Tour Final. Tokyo will play host to the Summer Games next August for the first time since 1964.

The Philippines is in Group Pool C, along with Slovenia, France, Qatar, and the Dominican Republic.

A total of 20 countries will be vying for three slots for Tokyo. An additional spot will be allotted to the winner of the Universality-driven Olympic Qualifying Tournament, to be held in Hungary in April.

Host Japan and top three countries Serbia, China, and Russia were given direct qualification to the inaugural tournament in the men's division. In the women's category, Russia, China, Mongolia, and Romania directly qualified.

Other countries that have qualified include India, the United States, Latvia, Poland, Mongolia, Netherlands, Lithuania, Brazil, Belarus, Canada, Croatia,South Korea, Turkey, Spain, and New Zealand in the men's division.

Meanwhile, for the distaff division, India, Hungary, France, Iran, Netherlands, Italy, Chinese Taipei, Estonia, United States, Germany, Ukraine, Belarus, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Uruguay, Turkmenistan, Indonesia, Australia, and Sri Lanka also advanced to the tournament.

"We're very happy that the Philippines will be competing in the upcoming Olympic Qualifying Tournament for a shot at making it to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics," said Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) president Al Panlilio.

"3x3 is an area where Filipino basketball players can really excel and we're delighted that a Filipino basketball team will get to test their skills against the world's best."

The Philippines, which started 61st in the World Rankings at the start of 2019, leapt over 40 spots and went as high as 20 -- primarily due to a collective effort on numerous fronts.

Major players include the Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3x3 tournaments, which featured four conferences, and the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas' Pambansang Tatluhan.

Also a contributor was the country's international involvement in this emerging variety, with several clubs like Pasig, Balanga, and Basilan participating in several high-level 3x3 competitions over the past nine months. Manila also played host to some high-profile 3x3 contests, including the first-ever Challenger tournament last September.

The pool for the 3x3 squads will be determined at a later date. However, FIBA rules stipulate that at least two of the four must be part of a country's Top 10 3x3 rankings.

To serve as tuneup for the OQT, Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3x3 will open its 2020 season in January.

"We would like to thank the [SBP], headed by chairman emeritus Manny V. Pangilinan and president Al Panlilio, the numerous private promoters, all the players from Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3x3, and of course, the Filipino people who supported us for the last nine months," bared CTG Pilipinas 3x3 league owner Ronald Mascariñas.

"The journey is far from over as the goal is to not just make it to the OQT. The endgame is to make it to Tokyo. We are all going all out to prepare our national team for this and we hope that everyone joins us in this journey."

...the improved PH FIFA Ranking

FIFA Rankings 2019: Thailand, Philippines set for rise, Indonesia to fall after poor display


Fox Sports Asia
16 October 2019

Thailand and Philippines are set to rise up the FIFA Rankings table after their latest exploits in the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers while Indonesia, Cambodia and Singapore are set to fall down.

Thailand registered a massive 2-1 win over the United Arab Emirates while Philippines produced a fine defensive display to hold the mighty Chinese side for a goalless draw. Indonesia, on the other hand, lost 3-1 to Vietnam, Cambodia suffered a 4-0 defeat to Iraq and Singapore went down 3-1 against Uzbekistan.

With their win over UAE, Thailand are expected to move up six spots to 109, while Philippines will gain one spot and will move up to 126. Indonesia will lose one spot and go down to 171 while Singapore will lose two spots and will go down to 159. Cambodia, who were hammered 14-0 by Iran last week, will go down to the 172nd spot after the loss against Iraq.

...the PH golden day in sports

Two golds in one day


Inquirer.net  Editorial
16 October 2019

There’s a lot to celebrate about the triumphs of Carlos Yulo and Nesthy Petecio in the world stage very recently.

Yulo scored the more celebrated victory, becoming the first Filipino world champion in gymnastics, after ruling the floor exercise in the sport’s world championships in Germany.

But not to be overlooked is Petecio, who ruled her division in the women’s competition of the boxing world championships in Ulan-Ude, Russia, beating local bet Liudmila Vorontsove in a sport notorious for hometown bias.

Their gold medal feats, achieved barely 24 hours of each other, not only polished the country’s image in the international scene, they also helped shatter sports’ stubborn sex stereotypes.

Yulo, after all, triumphed in a sport generally seen as feminine, whose women champions are more often heralded as iconic than their male counterparts. Meanwhile, it is not a stretch to say that you’d be in the hundreds when counting down the most influential boxers in history before coming up with a woman’s name.

Yulo and Petecio got their just due from the government, with the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) shelling out a cool million for each athlete as reward.

There is, however, the need to go beyond the cheering and the toasting when looking at the feats of Yulo and Petecio. Their victories in the world stage usher in new hope for the country as it hosts the Southeast Asian Games later this year and, more importantly, navigates its way to next year’s Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

Yulo and Petecio reinforce the change needed in our country’s national sports program, highlighting the need to funnel limited resources to focus sports.

PSC commissioner Ramon Fernandez is a staunch advocate of focus sports, disciplines where the Filipino athlete isn’t hamstrung by physical limitations like height and heft and can flourish on talent and hard work. Upon his appointment in 2016, Fernandez crafted a blueprint called “Change the Game,” which seeks to resuscitate Philippine sports.

 Among his plans was to focus on less popular sports where he believes the country has potential to succeed, such as open water swimming — for the Olympic event, known as marathon swimming —
given the country’s vast water bodies.

Sen. Manny Pacquiao also supports the idea of shifting focus to “weight-classed sports and other sports that does not give undue advantage to bigger and taller athletes.” Examples of weight-classed sports are boxing, taekwondo, judo, wrestling and weightlifting.

Filipino athletes can also excel in gymnastics, marathon, synchronized swimming, diving, cycling, shooting, archery, chess and other similar sports that require intelligence, balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination and endurance.