By Agence France-Presse

The Washington Nationals completed one of the most shocking championship runs in Major League Baseball history Wednesday by defeating Houston 6-2 to capture the US capital’s first World Series title since 1924.

Howie Kendrick and Anthony Rendon blasted home runs and the Nationals rallied from two runs down after six innings in the winner-take-all showdown to claim the best-of-seven final 4-3.

 

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Jonas Terrado

Barangay Ginebra San Miguel overcame Blackwater’s late uprising to prevail 101-93 and extend its winning streak to four games Wednesday night in the PBA Governors’ Cup at the Cuneta Astrodome.

Key baskets by Justin Brownlee and a three-pointer by LA Tenorio entering the final two minutes as Ginebra moved to a tie for third place with Meralco at 5-2 heading into their match on Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Brownlee registered his fourth triple-double of the conference with 17 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists, Tenorio scored a team-high 20 points and Stanley Pringle added 16.

Tenorio topscored for Ginebra on the night he became the seventh player in PBA history to make 1,000 career triples and seventh to have at least 800 steals.

Coach Tim Cone was glad to see Ginebra come away with the win after Blackwater sliced a 21-point deficit to only four, over three minutes remaining in the fourth.

“We just didn’t play our game and we almost paid for it,” Cone said.

Mac Belo produced 19 points and rookie Ray Parks Jr. recovered from a lackluster first half to finish with 14 points, five rebounds and five assists as the Elite suffered their fourth straight setback to tie the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters at 2-7.

Import Marqus Blakely tallied eight points and 13 rebounds against Cone, his former coach when he won two championships with the San Mig Super Coffee Mixers.

Ginebra went ahead 72-51 on Pringle’s triple with over five minutes remaining in the third and primed to come away victorious.

But Belo scored 11 in the fourth as the Elite tried to mount a comeback in the fourth. Brownlee, however, made back-to-back baskets including a reserve layup that made it 93-86.

Rabeh Al-Hussaini drained a corner three with the shot clock winding down to cut Blackwater’s deficit to 93-89, only for Tenorio responded by knocking down his fifth triple of the contest to bring the margin back to seven.

The scores:

GINEBRA 101 — Tenorio 20, Aguilar 18, Brownlee 17, Pringle 16, Slaughter 11, Thompson 10, Dela Cruz 6, Chan 3, Caguioa 0, Mariano 0.

BLACKWATER 93 — Belo 19, Parks 14, Sumang 12, Cruz 11, Heruela 8, Blakely 8, Sena 6, Al-Hussaini 6, Desiderio 3, Canaleta 3, Tolomia 3.

Quarters: 29-17; 55-44; 77-64; 101-93.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Nick Giongco

REDONDO BEACH, California – Filipino world champion Jerwin Ancajas wondered about the whereabouts of his Mexican challenger on Tuesday, ahead of his eighth defense of the International Boxing Federation super-flyweight crown taking place Saturday night in Carson.

“Is he already here? Have you seen him?” Ancajas asked.

Jonathan Rodriguez was supposed to blow into town on Tuesday afternoon but opted to spend one more training day in the border town of Tijuana, which is a 138 mile-drive from here.

Top Rank, which is staging the fight at the Dignity Health Sports Park, said Rodriguez and his party would instead arrive Wednesday although they could still afford to delay their arrival until Thursday.

Unlike Ancajas, who arrived here more almost two weeks ago, Rodriguez is not bothered by jet lag since his team had already been in Tijuana for quite some time now.

The decision to come over earlier is paying off, according to Ancajas’ people.

The official weighin will be Friday and even if it is held earlier, making the 115-lb limit will be no problem.

Just before working out, Ancajas tipped in at 116 lbs and after consuming two full meals and one pre-training snack, he was up to 119 lbs in the evening.

Source: Manila Bulletin

University of Santo Tomas drew a huge game from Rey de Vega in beating Adamson 25-17, 27-25, 25-17 and securing the remaining Final Four berth in UAAP season 82 boys’ volleyball Wednesday at the Paco Arena.

De Vega unleashed 18 points on 12 spikes, five service aces, and a block to lead the Junior Tiger Spikers.

It was De Vega who starred UST’s fightback from a 2-11 deficit in the second set with five consecutive service aces to tie the game at 13-13.

The Junior Tiger Spikers then went toe-to-toe with the Baby Falcons and hang on to take the commanding 2-0 set lead.

UST started the third set by scoring nine of the first 10 points and never looked back to move on to the Final Four.

Paul Colinares added 12 markers, including three blocks, for the Junior Tiger Spikers.

“Sobrang nakakaproud kasi yung lahat ng pinractice namin these past few days, nag work out lahat dito sa laro na ito. Ginusto talaga ng mga batang manalo,” UST assistant coach John Abella said.

Libero Vantracy Prudenciado provided the floor defense with 22 digs while CJ Segui poured in 11 receptions and five points for the Tiger Cubs.

Jefferson Marapoc led Adamson University with 17 points while captain John Gay chalked up 11.

UST will open its semifinals series with twice-to-beat Far Eastern University-Diliman on Sunday at the Blue Eagle Gym.

The other pairing pits No. 2 University of the East and No. 3 National University-Nazareth School.

Ranged against top-ranked Baby Tamaraws, the Tiger Cubs will work double-time to pull off a reversal.

“We come back tomorrow sa training. Hopefully same intensity, same resiliency makita ulit namin on Sunday. Ganito lang yung ilaro namin ulit tapos dagdagan pa ng ilang off game, may laban kami sa FEU,” Abella said.

Source: Manila Bulletin

Prove himself, Christian Standhardinger did.

The sophomore big man didn’t lose time in showing his real worth, making an immediate impact right in his first outing for new team NorthPort in the PBA Governors’ Cup.

That his breakout game for the Batang Pier came at the expense of former ballclub San Miguel Beer made the experience all sweeter.

Standhardinger came through with 18 points, five rebounds, seven assists, and two steals as NorthPort outgunned Dezmine Wells and the mighty Beermen, 127-119, at the Astrodome.

It was somewhat an emotional game for the 6-foot-7 Standhardinger as he was playing his first game since being dealt by the Beermen to the Batang Pier in a straight-up trade consummated two weeks ago.

The 6-foot-7 Standhardinger didn’t mince words that his all-around effort was borne out of his desire to prove himself worthy against the team that went out of its way to make him the top overall pick in the 2017 PBA draft.

“I have to prove to them that I think they made a mistake,” he said afterwards. “I got to be the player I can be and play my heart out to prove to the (San Miguel) coaching staff, to coach Leo that he could have played me more. I could have more. And now that’s how it is.”

The hardwork did pay off as Standhardinger was the runaway choice as the PBA Press Corps-Cignal Player of the Week for the period Oct. 21-27.

Standhardinger’s NortPort teammate Jervy Cruz was the only other player who received a vote for the weekly citation.

Cruz led all local Batang Pier scorers with 21 points and 10 rebounds on 8-of-12 shooting from.the floor.

But it was Standhardinger’s jumper from 18 feet inside the final minute that proved to be the dagger for NorthPort as it quashed a last ditch effort by the rallying Beermen.

Other than the two NorthPort players, others considered for the weekly award were Kiefer Ravena of NLEX, Alaska’s Jeron Teng and Abu Tratter, Scottie Thompson of Barangay Ginebra, Magnolia’s Ian Sangalang and Jio Jalalon, Meralco’s Baser Amer, Rey Nambatac of Rain or Shine, and Columbian Dyip’s CJ Perez and Rashawn McCarthy.

Source: Manila Bulletin

Adamson University ended De La Salle-Zobel’s reign 25-20, 25-21, 25-14 to advance to the next phase of  UAAP season 82 girls’ volleyball stepladder at Paco Arena Wednesday.

Middle blocker May Nuique led the Baby Falcons with 14 points on eight attacks and four blocks while Kate Santiago contributed 13 kills and 11 digs.

Up next for Adamson is twice-to-beat University of Santo Tomas on Sunday at the Blue Eagle Gym.

National University-Nazareth School is in the best-of-three Finals after sweeping all 12 elimination round matches.

“Marami pa ring errors eh pero masaya ako kasi naniniwala na yung mga bata sa sarili nila na kaya nilang manalo,” said Baby Falcons coach Lerma Giron.

Adamson built an 11-point lead in the third frame after scoring five consecutive points, 20-9, to put the game away.

With the Junior Lady Spikers closing in in the second frame, 21-22, the Baby Falcons put the finishing run with three consecutive points off two hits by Santiago and a service ace by Nuique, for the 2-0 set lead.

Irah Jaboneta paced De La Salle-Zobel with 11 points while Gerzel Petallo and Ysabel Gamboa chipped in 10 markers apiece.

Angel Canino sat out the game, citing an undisclosed injury.

The Junior Lady Spikers committed 26 errors, including 11 in the third set.

Source: Manila Bulletin

 

By WAYLON GALVEZ

The quest of Hidilyn Diaz to earn a second straight Olympic berth lies in the remaining three qualifying tournaments she is set to join, including the 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games here.

So far, Diaz is at No. 5 in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics qualification ranking system under the 55 kilogram category of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) with a total of 2,731.7699 points.

The top eight weightlifters earn outright spots to the Tokyo Games.

“Hindi lang SEA Games ang pinaghahandaan ko. May dalawa pa akong Tokyo Olympics qualifiers,” said Diaz yesterday.

“Ang preparasyon ko ngayon, so far so good. Bumabalik na yung lakas ko, this is my fourth competition or qualifier, so para sa akin importante na makapag-perform ako ng maayos (in the SEA Games).”

Currently leading in the 55 kg are Chinese weightlifters Jiang Huihua (3,492.7227), Liao Qiuyun (3,402.7612), Zhang Wanqiong (3,351.4374) and Li Yajun (3,209.3427), while at No. 6 is Muattar Nabieva of Uzbekistan (2,715.0661), Kazakhstan’s Zulfiya Chinshanlo at No. 7 (2,659.9042) and Maria Alexandra Escobas Guerrero of Ecuador at No. 8 (2,623.4874).

Under IWF rules, athletes can earn points by joining various qualifying tournaments with corresponding levels. Tournaments like the world championships or World Cup are categorized as gold status, continental and regional meets are silver, while invitational events are bronze.

After the SEA Games, the last two Olympic qualifying tournaments for Diaz are the Roma World Cup on Jan. 27 to 31, 2020 in Italy, and the 2020 Asian Championships on Apr. 16 to 25 in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.

Diaz became the country’s darling when she captured the silver medal in the 53kg category during the 2016 Rio Olympics in Brazil. Two years later, she captured the gold in the Asian Games in Indonesia.

The 28-year-old Diaz is set to leave this week for a month-long training camp in Taiwan, her second time in the country. She is expected to return home by late November.

Together with Chinese coach Kaiwen Gao, and conditioning and strengthening coach Julius Irvin Naranjo, Diaz said all she needs to improve in Taiwan is her focus to be able to perform well in the SEA Games, set Nov. 30 to Dec. 11.

“Technique-wise kasi… kailangan ko pumunta sa Taiwan kasi kailangan ko makapag-focus. Coach Gao always tells me that good food, good sleep, good training are equal to good performance or good results,” said Diaz.

“Doon ko yun nakita sa Taiwan. Ngayon ang kailangan ko lang gawin is, nandun na yung lakas, kailangan ko lang talaga makapag-training ng maayos,” added Diaz, who is eyeing her first gold medal in the SEA Games.

Diaz said she is getting to her ‘game form’ as she ranks her self “7 or 8” out of 10, and she hopes to get to that level by the fourth week of November in time for the event as the SEA Games weightlifting competition  at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

“Siyempre may one month pa to prepare for the SEA Games, pero, all in all, prepared na,” said Diaz.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Rey Bancod

A Malaysian sports leader has predicted that host Philippines will corner most of the gold medals in the 30th Southeast Asian Games, adding that the 2017 host country should be satisfied taking fourth place.

“The Philippines will naturally be champion with Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore fighting for 2nd to 6th positions,” said Datuk Sieh Kok Chi, former long-time secretary of the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) in his Facebook account. Two years ago, Malaysia won 145 of the 404 gold medals at stake at home.

“Being the host, Malaysia had certain advantages which were maximized by the Organizing Committee,” said Kok Chi, citing the increase in events of sports where they were strong and reduction by half in boxing, fencing, judo and weightlifting, among others.

Kok Chi said the Malaysian example did not go unnoticed and was picked up by the Philippines SEAG Organizing Committee (PHISGOC).

The non-inclusion of some sports and events in the coming Games has cost Malaysia 50 gold medals, according to Kok Chi.

The Games, set to kick off Nov. 30 with the opening ceremonies at the Philippine Arena, will be the largest ever with 56 sports, 12 disciplines and 531 events.

These include 20 new sports, disciplines and 130 events which are new to Malaysians, Kok Chi said.

The new sports are e-sports, jujitsu, kickboxing, kurash, modern pentathlon, obstacle course race, sambo, skateboarding, surfing and underwater hockey.

The three new disciplines are basketball 3×3, beach handball and duathlon.

As a result, Kok Chi said their target is to win 80 gold medals.

Kok Chi cited Malaysia’s history of poor ranking immediately after hosting the Games.

After topping the Games at home in 2001, Malaysia finished fifth the following edition. From runner-up in 1989, Malaysia dropped to fourth in 1991.

After serving as OCM official for many years, Kok Chi stepped down last year.

Last April 23, Kok Chi bagged the National Sports Council leadership from the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah at the National Sports Award ceremony in Kuala Lumpur.

Meanwhile, the Philippines, sixth place in Kuala Lumpur, is gunning for the overall title and hopes to flex its muscles in 13 subjective combat sports of arnis, boxing, jujitsu, judo, karate, kickboxing, kurash, muay, pencak silat, sambo, taekwondo, wrestling and wushu.

The last time the country hosted the Games in 2005, the Filipinos captured 112 of the 444 gold medals at stake to emerge overall champion.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Kristel Satumbaga

Games on Nov. 6

(Smart Araneta Coliseum)

4 p.m. – FEU vs UST

 

Ateneo continued its dominance in UAAP season 82 men’s basketball Wednesday, crushing University of the Philippines 86-64 for an elimination round sweep and an outright finals berth at the Mall of Asia Arena.

The two-time defending champion Eagles rose from a 21-20 first quarter deficit with a 23-6 run to open a 43-27 lead en route to their 14th straight victory.

They led by as many as 24 points early in the fourth period on a Matt Nieto triple 73-49.

Ateneo became the second team to sweep the elims after University of the East in 2007, propelling them straight to the best-of-three finals.

They await the winner of the stepladder semis pitting UP, Far Eastern University and University of Santo Tomas.

UP, which finished the elims at No. 2 with a 9-5 record, enjoys a twice-to-beat semis incentive as it prepares to face the winner between FEU and UST in the first round of the stepladder phase.

Ange Kouame paced with 20 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks, SJ Belangel and Will Navarro chipped in 13 and 11 points, and Thirdy Ravena added 11 points, four boards and five assists for the Eagles, who reaffirmed their mastery over the Maroons after an 89-63 victory in the first round.

“This is the team that has tremendous amount of hearts. It is driven with determination, passion belief in one another and I think that equates a heart,” said Ateneo coach Tab Baldwin.

“But our job is far from done.”

So efficient were the Eagles that they shot 34-of-64 for 53 percent from the field and outmuscled the Maroons, 46-38 on rebounds. Ateneo also distributed the ball well with 22 assists and converted 24 points off UP’s 21 turnovers.

 

 

Scores:

ATENEO 86 — Kouame 20, Belangel 14, Navarro 13, Ravena 11, Go 7, Ma. Nieto 7, Mamuyac 5, Tio 4, Maagdenberg 3, Mi. Nieto 2, Andrade 0, Chiu 0, Daves 0, Mallillin 0, Wong 0.

UP 64 — Paras 13, Akhuetie 11, Ja. Gomez de Liano 11, Ju. Gomez de Liano 9, Tungcab 5, Jaboneta 4, Rivero 4, Manzo 2, Murrell 2, Webb 2, Mantilla 1, Prado 0, Spencer 0.

Quarters: 20-21, 45-32, 65-44, 86-44.

 

Source: Manila Bulletin

The national women’s volleyball team gets a taste of competitive action when it bids in the Philippine Superliga (PSL) Super Cup starting Tuesday at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.

The Nationals, who will be returning from a 12-day training in Tokyo on Friday, will be clashing with three other teams in a mini-tournament that aims to test their cohesiveness and readiness for the 30th Southeast Asian Games that the country will host in December.

Aside from the league’s two selection squads in Team Sparkle and Team Shine, the women’s volleyball team of Tsukuba University will also challenge the Nationals in this short tourney that is backed by Foton and Summit Hotel Greenhills.

Tsukuba is the reigning champion of the All-Japan Intercollegiate Volleyball Championship and is tipped to come up with a solid performance in this battle that was conceptualized by all eight PSL teams in a bid to help the Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas, Inc. in preparing the national squad for the biennial meet.

“We organized this tournament to help the national team in its preparation for the Southeast Asian Games,” said PSL chairman Philip Ella Juico, who is also the president of the Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association.

“This tournament will be a perfect venue to gauge where they are right now and use the lessons they gained in their 12-day training in Japan in actual situation. We’re looking forward to a successful staging of the tournament and a competitive performance from our national team.”

Skipper Aby Maraño of F2 Logistics will be at the forefront of the national team’s attack as well as teammates Kalei Mau, Dawn Macandili and Majoy Baron, Mika Reyes, Frances Molina and Rhea Dimaculangan of Petron, Mylene Paat and Jovelyn Gonzaga of Cignal, Kat Arado of Generika-Ayala and Eya Laure of Foton.

Former national team members Aiza Maizo-Pontillas and Denden Lazaro of Petron and MJ Philips of Sta. Lucia will banner Team Shine together with Remy Palma and Buding Duremdes of Petron, Fiola Ceballos, Ria Meneses, Patty Orendain, Mean Mendrez and Bia General of Generika-Ayala; Amanda Villanueva, Eli Soyud and Rebecca Rivera of Sta. Lucia; and Des Clemente, Alex Cabanos and Fritz Gallenero of F2 Logistics with Carl Dimaculangan as head coach.

Meanwhile, Alohi Robins-Hardy of Cignal will spearhead the attack of Team Sparkle together with teammates Roselyn Doria, Ranya Musa and May Luna; EJ Laure, Jen Reyes, Mina Aganon and Elaine Kasilag of Foton; Gretchel Soltones, Jerilli Malabanan, Jasmine Nabor and Alyssa Eroa of PLDT Home.

Source: Manila Bulletin