By Nick Giongco

Locked down in Las Vegas and unable to come home owing to the pandemic, world boxing champion John Riel Casimero is doing his best to kill time, looking forward to the day everything clears up.

Though when exactly that day will come remains a question that nobody has the authority to answer, Casimero, who was supposed to fight on April 25 at Mandalay Bay, is trying to keep a straight face each passing moment.

A few days ago, Sean Gibbons, who heads MP Promotions, dropped by his rented house, joined him outside for training and went out to buy basic necessities.

During the Easter celebration, Gibbons visited Casimero again dressed in a bunny costume and horsed around with the homesick boxer, his brother Jayson and trainers Ting Ariosa and Nonoy Neri.

Casimero was slated to face two-belt holder Naoya Inoue of Japan in a three-belt bantamweight clash but the coronavirus forced the postponement of the fight alongside other shows being put up not only by Top Rank but by other outfits as well.

Casimero has been in the US since the second week of February, setting up training camp in Miami before heading to Las Vegas last month.

Nevada has cancelled all cards not only in April but the whole of May and there is the possibility that those penciled for June might also get axed.

Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum told the Las Vegas Sun that he has urged Casimero and all Top Rank talents, including Jerwin Ancajas, whose April 12 date also fell victim to the pandemic, to be patient.

Unlike Casimero, Ancajas didn’t get to fly to the US when Nevada decided to move the cards further back.

“They all want to know when they can go again. I say, “I’m not Dr. (Anthony) Fauci. Ask him. He knows better than me,” Arum told the paper, referring to the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the US.

“As old as I am, I wasn’t around in 1919 for the Spanish flu so I don’t know how that compared with this, but this is really frightening how the pandemic is going all over the globe and how many people are affected by it and how many deaths we’ve had.”

At this point in time, Arum doesn’t mind getting sidelined.

“I think people should be paying attention to that and not worry about boxing matches not being held.”

Source: Manila Bulletin

With the 2020 Chooks-to-Go MPBL Lakan Playoffs suspended indefinitely due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the league’s day-to-day employees consequentially took a massive blow.

The last time the league had a game day was back in March 11.

That’s why San Juan-Go for Gold team governor Chris Conwi made sure league’s employees composed of the staff, referees, table officials, among others, got some help financially.

Conwi initiated a donation drive called “COVID-19 Bayanihan sa MPBL” in which he called on the team owners to give any amount to help the employees.

The response to Conwi’s call was overwhelming as Atty. Brando Viernesto, Emmer Oreta, Sarangani head coach John Kallos, Nueva Ecija owner Bong Cuevas and team manager Jai Reyes, Rizal part-owner Jowell Conde, Makati owner Paolo Orbeta, Go for Gold godfather Jeremy Go, Bacoor team governor Dennis Abella, Simon Mangio of Pampanga, Laguna vice mayor Gel Alonte, Claudine Bautista of Davao Occidental, Zamboanga owner Anita Kaw, Sam Lato of Valenzuela, Jemina Sy’s Muntinlupa, Onyx Crisologo of Quezon City, Ruby Navarro of Imus, Justin Tan of Mindoro, Mark Tan of Bicol, Iloilo part-owner JJ Javelosa, Joan Villafuerte of Parañaque, Jun Reyes of Bulacan, and MPBL commentators Cedelf Tupas, Christian Luanzon, and Martin Javier stepped up to the plate.

As of Saturday, April 11, the drive has raised over PHP 330,000. Almost 80 employees of the league received the funds through their Money Padala accounts a day later.

With this, Conwi reminded the staff and the fans of MPBL to keep safe during this pandemic.

“Mag ingat po tayong lahat, sundun natin ang quarantine policies. Prayers lang at magkikita kita tayo ulit sa pagbabalik ng MPBL!”

COVID-19 Bayanihan sa MPBL will continue until the league’s operations go back to normal.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Field Level Media-Reuters

Devin Booker swept fellow Phoenix Suns teammate Deandre Ayton on Saturday night to claim the title at the first-ever NBA 2K Players Tournament.

Booker won the first two games of a best-of-three final series, beating Ayton without playing as the Los Angeles Lakers, who are generally regarded as the best team in the game. Playing as the Houston Rockets, Booker took the first game 72-62 from Ayton, who used the Lakers. He won the second 74-62 while playing as the Denver Nuggets against Ayton’s Milwaukee Bucks.

“Feels good, bro,” Booker said afterward. “It was a talented field. I said from the beginning, it was going to be me and Deandre in the championship.

“… We’ve played in the past, and he’s definitely a gamer.”

Booker, the fifth seed in the 16-player tournament, won $100,000 to donate to the coronavirus-relief charity of his choice.

Ayton, the 10th seed, trailed by only four at halftime of the first game after hitting a buzzer beater with JaVale McGee. But Booker was red-hot from 3-point range throughout the game, hitting 13 of 23 attempts, and also got 30 points from his bench to close it out.

In the second game, Booker pulled away after halftime, putting the exclamation point on the victory with a three-point play on a dunk by Paul Millsap with less than 90 seconds to go.

Both finalists swept a member of the Los Angeles Clippers earlier Saturday in the semifinals, with Booker beating Montrezl Harrell and Ayton dispatching Patrick Beverley.

Booker played as the Clippers in the first game and cruised past Harrell, who played as the Rockets, capping the win with a dunk by Harrell’s virtual character. In the second game, Booker (playing as the Toronto Raptors) came up with a steal off Harrell (Milwaukee Bucks) with a two-point lead in the final minute.

Ayton took the first game from Beverley playing as the Brooklyn Nets against Beverley’s Boston Celtics, hitting a 3-pointer in the final minute to put the game out of reach. In the second game, Ayton played as his own team, the Suns, and used a few big plays from his virtual character to handle Beverley’s Nuggets.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Field Level Media-Reuters

The NBA may not know when — or if — play will resume this season, but the league reportedly has a plan to get players into game shape and onto the court should that day come.

According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst on Sunday, the league has a “25-day plan” that would kick in after the league sets a return date from the coronavirus-induced layoff and would conclude with players ready to play regular-season games again.

“They’re spending a lot of time getting a back-to-basketball plan ready,” Windhorst said during a TV interview of what league officials have been working on in recent days.

“What they’re looking at is a 25-day return-to-basketball window,” he continued. “… An 11-day series of individual workouts, where there’d be social distancing for a period of time, and then hopefully … a 14-day training camp.”

The NBA halted its regular season on March 11. Commissioner Adam Silver has previously said the league doesn’t plan to make any decisions regarding the calendar until at least May 1.

The regular season had about a month remaining when it was suspended, and the playoffs typically take about two months to complete. The 2020-21 regular season typically would begin in October, although Silver acknowledged that could be affected as well.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Agence France-Presse

Stirling Moss, widely-regarded as the greatest motor racing driver never to win the world title, has died aged 90 following a long illness.

“It was one lap too many,” his wife Susie Moss told Britain’s Press Association on Sunday.

“He just closed his eyes.”

Tributes flooded in from the world of motorsport and beyond to the gifted and revered driver who never won the Formula One title, finishing runner-up four times and third three times.

“Today we say goodbye to Sir Stirling Moss, the racing legend,” reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton wrote on Instagram.

“Two people from massively different times and backgrounds but we clicked and ultimately found that the love for racing we both shared made us comrades,” added the six-time world champion.

Meanwhile, three-time world champion Jackie Stewart, who came into Grand Prix racing shortly after Moss’s injury-enforced retirement in the early 1960s, told the BBC: “I think he’s probably the best example of a racing driver there’s ever been.

“He walked like a racing driver, he talked like a racing driver, he behaved like a racing driver should behave.”

Former England striker Gary Lineker posted on Instagram: “Sir Stirling Moss has reached life’s checkered flag, and what a race he drove. Wonderful driver and a lovely man. RIP.”

British media reported Moss had succumbed to a chest infection he caught in Singapore in December 2016 that saw him retire from public life two years later.

There is no suggestion his death was linked to the coronavirus.

In an era when it was common for drivers to race in different disciplines, Moss won 212 of the 529 races he entered over a 14-year career that started in 1948.

His victories included the 1955 Mille Miglia, where he set a course record in the 1,000 mile event, which took place on public roads in Italy.

Renowned sportsmanship

In Formula One, Moss won 16 races, with his first victory coming in the 1955 British Grand Prix at Liverpool that saw him become the first British winner.

Moss had the misfortune to compete in the same era as the great Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio, who won the F1 championship five times.

His renowned sportsmanship cost Moss the 1958 title when he defended the conduct of British rival Mike Hawthorn following a spin at the Portuguese Grand Prix.

Moss’s action helped spare Hawthorn a six-point penalty, with Hawthorn winning the title by a single point.

“I had no hesitation in doing it,” Moss recalled. “I can’t see how this is open to debate. The fact that he was my only rival in the championship didn’t come into my thinking. Absolutely not.”

His top-level career in motorsport came to an end in 1962 following a crash at the Goodwood track in Sussex, southern England, that left Moss in a coma for a month and partially paralysed for six months.

But such was the enduring fame of the debonair driver that, for decades afterwards, the rhetorical phrase “Who do you think you are, Stirling Moss?” was supposedly the standard question all British policemen asked speeding motorists.

“Yes a policeman did once ask me,” Moss told the Daily Telegraph in a 2012 interview.

“But I couldn’t work out if he was taking the mick (joking).”

He was knighted in the New Year Honours list in 2000 for services to motor racing.

For F1 pundit and former driver Martin Brundle, Moss was “a mighty racer and gentleman”.

“He had a press on style on the track and in life,” Brundle posted on Twitter.

“Remarkable man. Survived the most dangerous era of motorsport and died today aged 90. He had such great stories to tell, and it was a privilege to know him.”

Former world heavyweight boxing champion Frank Bruno revealed that Moss had “privately supported me over many years”.

“My thoughts are with his family and all that had the pleasure of knowing him”.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Agence France-Presse

Two mixed martial arts (MMA) events planned behind closed doors in Singapore this month have been postponed after the city-state tightened restrictions to fight the coronavirus (COVID-19), organizers said Monday.

A spokeswoman for Asia’s biggest MMA promotion, ONE Championship, confirmed that the events, on April 17 and 24, have been postponed.

Two more closed-door events next month could also be shelved because of the tougher restrictions imposed by the city-state, she told AFP.

The worldwide sporting calendar has been left in tatters because of the pandemic, which has killed more than 110,000 people and infected nearly two million.

It was still unclear about the fate of another ONE Championship event scheduled for May 29 in the Philippines capital Manila, which is also under a government lockdown.

“We are living through the most extraordinary of times. The good news is that these short-term restrictions will undoubtedly slow down the coronavirus, and flatten the curve,” ONE Championship chairman and chief executive Chatri Sityodtong said in a Facebook post last week.

ONE Championship initially hoped to hold the Singapore events without fans, but decided to delay them after the city-state last week ordered the closure of schools and non-essential businesses, and asked people to stay home.

Singapore won praise for keeping its outbreak in check in the early stages but has seen a surge in cases this month, with many linked to foreign workers’ dormitories.

Health authorities have reported 2,532 COVID-19 cases, including eight deaths.

Last week the US-based UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) was forced to scrap controversial plans to stage a fight card behind closed doors at a secret location next weekend after broadcasters pulled out.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Agence France-Presse

Even though the American baseball season has been suspended, Boston’s Fenway Park organist is still churning out the tunes.

Josh Kantor decided on a whim to conduct a virtual “seventh-inning stretch” musical performance from his living room on what was supposed to be Major League Baseball’s opening day.

He received almost 100 requests on the first day and so has decided to incorporate it into his daily routine.

“I expected to get maybe one or two requests,” said Kantor, who wears his Red Sox jersey and cap while performing, told the Boston Globe.

“I went for over an hour.”

Kantor usually performs from his lofty perch at the historic Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox.

But in late March the season was suspended because of the worldwide Covid-19 epidemic which has so far killed 113,000 Americans, including over 680 people in Massachusetts.

“This is a tiny thing that I can do to have that joy of spring be a little bit present for me and for whoever is interested in tuning in,” Kantor said.

“Whoever wants to request a song and have me try to play it and hopefully not butcher it too badly.”

Kantor, who has spent 17 years on the job, is now pledging to continue the “Seventh-Inning Stretch” as he calls his 30-minute show, until baseball is back.

Kantor has been inundated with goodwill messages from fans, including his childhood piano teacher, Dera Weaver.

“I was definitely a little embarrassed and self-conscious, like, ‘Oh, my god, the teacher’s watching. I hope I don’t make any mistakes’.”

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Agence France-Presse

Fifteen-time major winner Tiger Woods says he can’t help feeling like the green jacket he claimed for winning the Masters last year doesn’t belong in his locker anymore.

The 44-year-old Woods doesn’t like the idea of holding onto the coveted sports coat due to the world-wide coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic that led to the 2020 Masters tournament being postponed until November.

The pandemic “has been a shock to all of us. We know it’s still going to continue to get worse. It’s a very difficult situation, a very difficult time, a unique time in history,” Woods told CBS television on Sunday.

The American broadcaster replayed Woods’ stunning comeback victory on Sunday with the five-time Masters winner adding his own commentary from his home in Florida.

Woods said it felt odd not to be in full training for a major and also to be keeping the winner’s jacket for another seven months.

“This is not the way I wanted to have the jacket for a longer period of time,” he said. “Come Masters Tuesday, after our Champions Dinner, we put our jackets back up in our lockers, and the next person who gets to take it off the grounds is the champion that particular week.

“So hopefully we’ll have it in November, and we’ll be able to compete for it.”

The Masters has been rescheduled for November 12-15.

Woods says he was raring to go and would have been healthy for this year’s event.

“Yes, I would have been good to go,” Woods said. “Mind and body were coming together. I was not my normal self (earlier in the week), and all of my normal pre-major championship self.

“I’m used to having this four times a year. I kind of get in that mode. And it started happening again.”

Looking back, Woods said he remembers little about his merrymaking on the green after holing the final putt 12 months ago.

“Well, the funny part about the whole thing is — I don’t remember screaming. I don’t remember putting my arms up, and I don’t remember yelling.

“That’s one of those kind of blackout moments. There’s certain celebrations throughout my career that I’ve made putts or celebrated, I just don’t recall it. I guess I’m so locked into the moment,” he told CBS.

“What I do remember is my eyes coming back down and seeing people in front of me. I do remember that. I remember all the arms up. But as far as me celebrating, I don’t remember that part.

‘Low times’

“I remember ‘Where the hell’s Joey (LaCava)? I need Joey.’ And I finally found Joey and said, ‘We did it.’ Joey was there helping me go to soccer games when I couldn’t drive a car. He came down here as a friend and helped try and nurse me back to health. He was there in those low times.”

What was extra special to Woods was embracing his mother at the final green.

“My mom’s there and she’s patting me on my back, and kept saying she’s so proud of me, my dad would be so proud if he were here. She said, ‘I love you,’ and I said, ‘I love you, too, Mom.’”

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Kristel Satumbaga

International Master Daniel Quizon needed a strong start to fend off furious attempts from Grandmaster Banjo Barcenilla and Joel Pimentel to rule the fourth leg of the 1st Philippine Bullet Championship done online Saturday night.

Quizon, 15, went on an 11-game streak to start his campaign, and then suffered six defeats in his next 21 games before closing out with three straight triumphs which he capped with a victory over IM Paulo Bersamina to rule the event with 83 points.

The United States-based Barcenilla, the opening leg champion, had a slow start but came roaring back to finish second with 82 points. Pimentel, who ruled the third leg, wound up third with 81.

Rounding up the top 10 were Chester Neil Reyes, GM Darwin Laylo, Sherwin Tiu, FIDE Master Arden Reyes, Karl Ochoa, Jayson Salubre and Ellan Aseula.

It was the first title for Quizon in this weeklong tournament sanctioned by the National Chess Federation of the Philippines after two runner-up finishes in the first two legs and a dismal 21st place finish in the third leg.

It was actually one of the two titles he snared on the same day as he also reigned in the Rising Phoenix Qualifier 5 Arena.

The Dasmariñas-based Quizon scored 44 points there ahead of AJ Literatus and Karl Ochoa, who came in second and third with 40 apiece.

Source: Manila Bulletin

 

BY WAYLON GALVEZ

TNT KaTropa forward Troy Rosario isn’t letting up on helping people in need of assistance as the country remains on lockdown to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Rosario distributed food packs in the Quezon City area yesterday, knowing people are having a hard time.

“Kailangan na e,” said Rosario as he and wife Michelle went around the neighborhood vicinity.

“Matagal ko na din itong ginagawa at hindi ako humihingi ng anumang kapalit. Sa dami ng blessings na dumarating sa akin ano ba naman ung maging blessing din ako sa iba.”

The 28-year-old player, who turned pro in 2015 after leading National University to a UAAP title, initially posted on Instagram a picture of his family repackaging more than 100 relief goods last Saturday.

Rosario got help from his sister Eunice, sister-in-law Marinel Aguas and her niece Mary Jose.

“Posting this not to brag but to inspire others. First few weeks ng lockdown I was helping thru donations hoping and praying na matapos na itong pandemic,” Rosario said after some fellow PBA players were bashed instead of being commended after they reached out and helped.

Rosario added: “Unfortunately, na-extend yung lockdown. So right now I just want to do my part to help people na walang-wala dahil naapektuhan nitong crisis. Alam ko yung pakiramdam na wala ng mahugot at mapambili ng pagkain. Malalagpasan din natin to. Magtiwala lang at magdasal.”

The 6-foot-7 veteran said he doesn’t mind whatever comments his post will draw. “Sa mga gnitong sitwasyon wala na akong pakialam sa mga sasabihin ng ibang tao,” he said.

Rosario said this is not the first time he has been involved in a health crisis since he made donations when the PBA Commissioner’s Office asked for support for game day personnel.

However, this is the first time he is making food donations, which he intends to continue until the lockdown is lifted.

“I want it to start muna hoping na maka-encourage din ako sa iba na magbigay. Meron pa akong plans sa mga susunod na araw. I’m hoping na mas marami ang mapamigay,” said Rosario.

 

 

Source: Manila Bulletin