Recently in Sport Category

The Company of Ateneo Dancers (CAD) won in the recent Nike Women Dance Battle held this weekend.

Excerpt: MAKATI CITY, Philippines--Clad in goddess-inspired outfits, the Company of Ateneo Dancers (CAD) grooved their way to the top and took home the grand prize in the Nike Women Dance Battle. “We’re really avant-garde to be different and unique,” said Steff Someda, a BS Biology student and team captain of CAD, in an interview during the contest held at A. Venue Saturday. “We put a lot of energy, belief, faith in ourselves and faith in God,” added Jesse Castillo, AB Arts Management student and co-dance head of CAD.

Read the rest of the report here.

MANILA, Philippines—Former national women’s futsal team IROK Philippines is striking it out on their own as they join an international tournament in New Zealand this year. Head coach Emmanuel Batungbacal said the team is currently raising funds to compete again at the Vikings Futsal Cup this August. The team competed in last year’s tournament but placed at the bottom. They were able to beat host country New Zealand but lost closing games to stronger teams in Australia. “But we’re bringing in lots of experience and some new players with us this time,” Batungbacal told INQUIRER.net via a telephone interview. He expects teams from the United States and China to join the tournament this year. Despite budget constraints, Batungbacal steered the former national team to a rousing bronze medal finish at the 2007 Southeast Asian Games. Players however decided to quit the national team altogether after Batungbacal was sacked by Philippine Football Federation (PFF) chief Jose Mari Martinez. Since then, the team has renamed itself the IROK Philippines Futsal Club and has been raising funds through sponsorships and other means to finance their trips abroad. “We want to compete in other tournaments like the Five-A-Side in Australia but we have to take it one at a time because of limited funding,” Batungbacal said. The team was earlier slated to compete at this year’s Asian Indoor Games. But it was not able to join because the tournament is sanctioned by the PFF.

By Izah Morales IT was not yet Friday but many have gathered at the Black Nazarene Church in Quiapo not to hear mass. They were there to catch a glimpse of the victorious Manny Pacquiao. At around 8:00 in the morning, the siren went off in Plaza Miranda as Pacquiao and his entourage arrived. The once solemn atmosphere in the Church was quickly filled with cheers as Pacquiao entered. People who were seated in the Church silently, stood up. Others even forgot they were inside the Church as they climbed on top of pews to have a better view of the boxing champion. The police took about 30 minutes to settle the rowdy crowd inside the Church. After priest gave his final blessings, Pacquiao was asked to give a message to the people. During his message, Pacquiao thanked the people and attributed his success to God. He talked about the criticisms he got from some sportswriters before his bout with Oscar de la Hoya. But he said he did not lose hope as he kept his faith in God. Pacquiao told the crowd, “Don’t tell God that [you] have a big problem. [B]ut tell your problem [that you] have a big God.” As he went out of the Church, people brought out their phone cameras and took photographs. They followed him until he got into his land cruiser. One man screamed, “Idol kita, Manny!” as if saying that Pacquiao has always been their champion.

By Anna Valmero INQUIRER.net PASIG CITY, Philippines -- Want to be good in a sport that constantly innovates? Try playing the yo-yo. "Yo-yo is a sport that inspires endless ideas and innovation. It is a safe sport that can be played by everyone, plus it can be done almost everywhere," said Philip Rodriguez, a professional yo-yo player. "To start playing, all you need is the yo-yo, a small space to throw the gadget, patience and dedication to practice. Everyone can be good at it,” he said. Historically cited as a weapon used by early Filipino warriors, the yo-yo has evolve from being a pastime to a skill sport. Both here and abroad, yo-yo players compete under different categories to test their skills in performing tricks. In the country, there is a local community of yo-yo players called “Flipspin Komunidad.” To promote yo-yo as a sport for everyone, the group holds meetings and practice sessions open for everyone who wants to learn the new sport. From the humble wooden axle and string, the yo-yo has undergone several design changes. The wooden axle and string is dubbed the “old-school” yo-yo, which allows players to do 10 basic tricks. In 1960, the introduction of plastic gave yo-yos uniform weight. Today, high-end yo-yos are made of metal, such as aluminum, steel, titanium and rarely, magnesium and tungsten alloys. Exotic plastics, such as Delrin is also used for high-end yo-yos made of metal. Bearings are added at the end of each string in place of loopholes. "These modifications in design allowed for greater, more complex yo-yo tricks and string patterns," said Edmund San Antonio, president of Flipspin. "For example, using yo-yos with bearing enables a player to have faster spins. They also can increase tricks performance to a maximum of 12 minutes, unlike the 1 minute play you can get from wooden ones." This, however, does not mean that the “new school” players who use the new yo-yos don’t appreciate basic tricks. "Before we train or teach someone for advanced techniques, we let them know the basics first because that is the foundation for playing." Can someone earn income from playing yo-yo? "Sometimes, though not big, we get paid to perform in corporate functions," said San Antonio. He said they are drafting plans to form routines that their group can perform in social gatherings. Funds collected from the performances will constitute the budget of the group in organizing demo sessions and competitions. Recently, Filipino yo-yo players showcased their skills at the 2008 National Yo-yo Championships under six different categories at Shangri-La Plaza. Now on its fourth year, over 40 yo-yo players from Manila, Laguna, Cavite, Batangas and Pampanga joined the competition. "In this competition we held, you will see the drive of the players to earn a title -- it's not the typical competition when money is the goal but the recognition for their excellence," said San Antonio. "I have been trying to win in this competition for over four years and now that I actually won it, I am elated all those practice paid off," said Ernest Khan, an A1 competition champ. "Yo-yo is not a typical sport but what's great about it is that it encourages one to be creative in tricks."

By Anna Valmero INQUIRER.net PASIG CITY, Philippines -- Start them on a sport while their young. This has been the inspiration of Toby’s Youth Badminton Championships. Now on its sixth year, the cup continues to attract young talent to compete with other badminton players of their own age. Toby Claudio, vice president for operations at Toby’s Sports said starting sports development at the “grassroots” level -- meaning the youth -- is the best way to keep the local talent pool fresh and helps offer better training to athletes. “Often, we believe that training is for a selected pool of very talented athletes. But the key to develop and hone players is to offer the opportunity to as many kids as possible. From here, players will emerge as they learn in the court and during their early training,” Claudio said. One of the challenges for young badminton talents is how to get exposure and experience in competitions, given that most of these cater to the yuppies and working class players. Through their badminton cup, Claudio hopes they are helping the youth gain experience and exposure while playing at the court and get acknowledged as they publish results of the competition. At present, 10 to 15 players from the cup were drafted in the national team. Right now, alternatives to physical sports such as video games and the Internet get the attention of the young. Through the event, Claudio aims to encourage kids to get active even when their young so they can avoid the sedentary lifestyle most adults have today. “More than building the physical skills, sports like badminton can help players learn sportsmanship, fair play, discipline, hard work and training -- essentials to building one’s character,” said Claudio. A parent of two players in the cup, Jojo Vargas, concurred. He said his kids Anton and Mikaela who play in the cup learned to manage time for both school work and badminton training, unlike before when they were not playing the sport. Badminton became a popular sport in the country given that it is easy to learn, the equipment for beginners is not costly and facilities are widely available given that the sport became popular in the start of the decade, said Nicole Limon, marketing supervisor of Toby’s Sports. She said the youngest player joining the event is aged five years. To let the youth focus on the competition, the event does not give out money as prizes. Winners instead are awarded with apparels and equipment from the event sponsors. About 1,000 players with ages from 8 to 18 participated in the annual cup, a joint effort between Toby’s Sport and sports gear company Dunlop. Participants hailed from Manila, Laguna, Cavite, Pampanga, Batangas, Ilo-ilo and Cebu. Eliminations will run from October 25-31 at the West Drive Badminton Center, with finals slated in November 14-16 at SM Megamall Atrium A. List of winners for the eliminations will become available October 31.

IF you're a fan of mixed martial arts, then Saturday, July 19 (Sunday, July 20 in Manila) was a great day because the debuting MMA promotion Affliction unleashed its first pay-per-view, Affliction: Banned, while the reigning MMA promotion, Ultimate Fighting Championship, countered this challenge by quickly putting together the UFC Fight Night 14 card, which it showed for free on Spike TV on the same day. The Affliction: Banned main event featured the man many MMA aficionados consider the best heavyweight fighter and arguably the best MMA fighter of all time, Russia's legendary Fedor Emelianenko. Going up against him was the former two-time UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia, with the winner becoming the first World Alliance of Mixed Martial arts heavyweight champ. This was the icing on what was a great card that included Andrei Arlovski, Josh Barnett, Pedro Rizzo, Matt Lindland, Renato Sobral, and one of my all-time faves, Vitor Belfort. Meanwhile, the main event for UFC Fight Night 14 was the UFC's main star and the man being touted as the current best pound-for-pound MMA fighter in the world, Anderson Silva, the UFC middleweight champion, who was making his debut in the light heavyweight division. I'm a huge Silva fan, and this guy has been dominant in the UFC middleweight division, but even though I felt he would win against James Irvin (best known for knocking out Houston Alexander in eight seconds), I have to admit I was wondering how wise it was for Silva to accept a bout in a higher weight class on short notice. Well, Silva proved critics wrong when he took just 61 seconds to beat Irvin. After catching a kick from Irvin, Silva uncorked a straight right that practically knocked out The Sandman. Silva then quickly followed it up with a brutal ground and pound to finish the fight. Pretty impressive, particularly if you saw that nasty cut under Irvin's right eye after this fight. As much of a Silva fan as I am, however, what Fedor did was more impressive -- in fact, downright unbelievable. I've never liked Tim Sylvia, but give credit where credit is due, he's one of the best heavyweights and was a two-time UFC champ. So you can imagine how shocking it was to see Fedor immediately stunning Tim with hard punches, taking his back, and making the big man tap out to a rear naked choke. All in just 36 seconds. Wow! It's hard to see that performance and not be awed. Even the UFC head honcho Dana White, who has consistently belittled Fedor because he says the Russian hasn't fought a quality fighter in years (Fedor was the Pride FC heavyweight champ from 2003 until it closed in 2007. UFC had bought its former rival, and it seemed that the UFC would be bringing in Fedor but talks bogged down.), had to admit he was impressed, though he still insisted Silva was the best pound-for-pound MMA fighter today. With that victory, people are now waiting for a Fedor-Randy Couture fight -- Randy was there at Affliction: Banned, and went in the ring after Fedor said he would like to fight Randy next. Thing is, Randy is still locked in a contract dispute with UFC, and though he has resigned from the UFC, he is still technically the UFC heavyweight champion, though Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is the interim heavyweight champion (Nogueira, by the way, was the Pride FC heavyweight champ from 2001 to 2003, before he was dethroned by, you guessed it, Fedor). Randy has said that the only person that would make sense for him to fight is Fedor -- that's one of the reasons he wanted to leave the UFC -- but this whole mess is convoluted right now. Back in the day, MMA had no weight classes, and you could settle who was the better fighter by actually having Fedor and Anderson Silva go at it. The thing is, Silva is a middleweight who now plans to go up and down weight classes to fight light heavyweights while defending the middleweight championship. Fedor is a heavyweight. Thus the need to talk about the pound-for-pound best MMA fighter. How about you, who do you think is the best, Fedor or Anderson Silva? Or do you believe someone else is the best pound-for-pound MMA fighter? Whatever may be the case, right now the indisputable fact is that both Fedor and Anderson Silva are simply lording it over in their respective divisions, and are simply competing on a different level.

By Erika Tapalla INQUIRER.net UPDATE: Editor's note: Corrected misspelled name. I HAVE to admit, for the longest time, the first image that usually enters my head whenever I see a Frisbee would be a topless stud flicking the disc to his beautiful golden retriever named Lassie, trained to, yes, "retrieve" that disc for a rewarding rub on the head on a warm day out in the park. But recently, I realized that image was completely off for two reasons. One: the Frisbee, or "disc" as they call it, isn't just for the Lassies and their masters. And two: It actually takes skill to catch those plastic discs as they soar and trick you as to which direction they're actually headed. Believe it or not, it's not as charming as it looks. I should know. I tried it, and there were many times when my disc didn't look as pretty as a flying saucer that so perfectly flies right to the hands of my partner. Trust me when I say there were times when I made my disc look like a weapon that would slice someone's head off (vertically, at that) if they weren't paying attention. Okay, so I'm strong, but that didn't really matter because I learned that in playing disc, it's all about the wrist. For those who play volleyball, it's just like that moment when you are coming up for a spike, except instead of aiming to nail the ball downwards, imagine nailing it directly to your opponent, sideways. For those who play tennis, it's actually the same concept but without the racket of course, and less stress on the follow through. It's a recreational sport you get used to doing. Here's an instructional video I made that explains the basics and mechanics of the sport. Disc players Pia Ybañez and Mel Lozano conducted the demonstration while Alvin Pura and Roselle Miranda practiced with me as INQUIRER.net web designer Justin Calingasan filmed. You could also check out this video I took of celebrities Jeff Geoff Eigenmann, Angelica Panganiban, and Derek Ramsey at the Ultimate Frisbee summer tournament. So yes, you can play Frisbee with someone other than your dog.

WORLD-CLASS Filipino athlete Bong Coo shares how she got into bowling and recounts her most memorable tournaments. She talks about the future of the sport in the Philippines and cites some of the rising stars. Video taken by INQUIRER.net online videographer Janie Christine Octia.

ASIANLOGIC CEO and Asian Poker Tour director Chris Parker talks about the tournament which kicks of on May 27 at the Dusit Thani Hotel. The APT boasts a $1 million guaranteed prize pool. Interview conducted by INQUIRER.net reporter Relly Carpio. Video taken by INQUIRER.net online videographer Janie Christine Octia.

CHINO VEGUILLAS, a senior instructor at the AAK Fitness System in SM Megamall and Regina Torres, 10, talk about karatedo and why kids should try this sport this summer. Video taken by INQUIRER.net online videographer Janie Christine Octia.