By Jonas Terrado

Isaac Go is grateful being part of Gilas Pilipinas for the first window of the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers which will also mark his return to national team duties after a stint as an unheralded youth player almost nine years ago.

The former Ateneo star continued his remarkable rise into one of the country’s promising talents after being selected to play in Gilas’ 12-man roster for Sunday night’s away match against Indonesia.

It will be Go’s first time representing the Philippines since the 2011 FIBA Asia U-16 Championship in Nha Trang, Vietnam as among those tapped to replace several players who were barred by their schools to due the ongoing NCAA juniors tournament.

Then 15 years old, Go hardly saw action during that two-week competition that saw the team place fourth behind a roster that included J-Jay Alejandro, Kyles Lao, Jordan Heading, Andrei Caracut, Prince Rivero, Hubert Cani, Rev Diputado, Henri Asilum, Jay Javelosa, Tomas Ramos, Nick Dalafu, Darryl Pascual and coached by Olsen Racela.

“I think you saw me before na how I played, how you didn’t think that I would get to this point in such a short period of time,” Go said after this writer recalled being part of a small group of reporters that covered the 2011 squad.

The youth competition held in the city known for its beaches set up Go’s basketball journey.

But Go would have to work his way up after his high school career at Xavier, emerging from Ateneo’s Team B squad to blossom under coach Tab Baldwin, who once called him a “big, fat kid” when the renowned mentor came to the Loyola campus.

He was an integral part of the Blue Eagles’ run of three straight UAAP championships and was a surprise Most Valuable Player of last year’s PBA D-League First Conference in what Go said as his first individual award outside of academics.

Aside from the Gilas call-up, he was selected first overall by the Columbian Dyip in a special round of last year’s PBA Draft, the next step once he completes his full-time role with the Gilas Cadets squad.

He is expected to share minutes with big men Poy Erram and Justin Chua as Gilas hopes to hurdle its lack of frontline support against the Indonesians and start the Asia Cup bid on a high note.

Now after exceeding expectations and could likely pull off more surprises in the future, Go wants to savor the chance of representing the country anew.

“Now I’m just excited to be back,” he said. “There’s nothing else like seeing the national anthem for your country with all the Filipinos all over the world backing you up.”

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Waylon Galvez

Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Jamie Lim and Joane Orbon bagged gold medals in the Karate Premier League Kharkiv Open 2020 in Ukraine.

Lim, daughter of PBA legend Samboy Lim and former PAGIBIG official Darlene Berberabe, captured the gold in the -68 kilogram division while Orbon earned the gold medal in the -61 kilogram category.

Karate Pilipinas Inc. president Ricky Lim shared the accomplishments of the two in the federation’s Facebook page.

The event serves a qualifying tournament for the Tokyo Olympics.

Members of the national team, which also include another SEA Games gold medalist Junna Tsukii, are in Ukraine for training and competition in hopes to add points to get to the Olympics.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Jonas Terrado

Kevin Alas has taken steps to not only get back into form but also to play on a consistent basis after suffering an ACL tear on his right knee twice.

The NLEX guard missed 49 games over the last two seasons after getting hurt during the 2018 PBA Philippine Cup semifinals series with Magnolia and in a 2019 PBA Philippine Cup elimination round game against Meralco.

He did come back and play the final four games of NLEX’s 2019 campaign but averaged just 1.3 points while logging a total of 27 minutes as he struggled to get rediscover his confidence and rhythm.

The longer offseason enabled Alas to show some promise in the Road Warriors’ sweep of the recent four-team preseason tilt with averages of 11.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists in three games.

“Siguro yung confidence is getting there, but I can’t say na 100 percent,” Alas said.

Among the things Alas did was to tap a sports psychologist to help him on the mental aspect of dealing with what he described as the low point of his basketball career.

“Malaking tulong yung sa second ACL ko kasi nung first ko kala ko I’m very tough,” he said. “Pero nung second ACL ko, I think yun yung time na pinakana- down ako sa buong basketball career ko so malaking bagay na seeing a sports psychologist kasi dami akong natutunan na mga bagay na ‘to, na it happens for a reason.

“It’s easier said than done na pag may problema dapat di na ako down. OK lang ma-down pero it’s ok na napag-uusapan siya,” added Alas, who is also working on other facets of his game like developing an outside shot.

Alas, known more for constantly attacking the basket, is a career 26-percent shooter from three-point range, making just 97 out of 360 attempts since his PBA career began with Talk ’N Text in the 2014-15 campaign.

“Yung game ko naman wala naman akong binago, nagdagdag lang ng other weapons like developing a jump shot,” Alas mentioned. “Kasi laro ko na dati puro salaksak lang nang salaksak. So dapat nag-aadapt na rin laro ko.

“Factor na rin siyempre kasi two ACL injuries na rin. Siguro kailangan ko na rin mag-evolve ng laro.”

Having a healthy season from Alas may help NLEX a great deal in bolstering its backcourt.

The Road Warriors already have Kiefer Ravena and Jericho Cruz while role players Philip Paniamogan and Bong Galanza have proven to be key assets when consistent.

The small steps are behind Kevin Alas as the 45th PBA season looms. A bigger leap of faith now follows.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Kristel Satumbaga

Non-playing team captain Chris Cuarto hopes home court advantage will play a big role when the Philippines takes on Greece in the Davis Cup World Group II playoffs on March 6 to 7.

The two-day affair will be played at the Philippine Columbian Association in Paco, Manila where it boasts of a shell clay court surface.

“We would want to make (the matches) as slow as possible,considering that these (Greece) players are very huge in hard courts,” said Cuarto.

Members of the PH pool are not new to the court surface as the venue has been hosting a number of local tournaments.

Team nominations for both the PH team and Greece will be known by Tuesday with the local selections composed of veteran Cuppers like Treat Huey, Ruben Gonzales, Francis Casey Alcantara, Jeson Patrombon and AJ Lim.

As far as last year’s team composition, Greece has world No. 6 Stefanos Tsitsipas, No. 416 Michael Pervolarakis and No. 716 Markos Kalovelonis.

“We’re excited to host it, and looking at our players, we believe we still have a big chance,” Cuarto said.

The matchup will be the first time in 29 years that the Filipino Cuppers will be up against a non-Asian squad since the PH team, then bannered by Felix Barrientos, faced Sweden in the 1991 World Group Qualifiers.

Under the new format, 12 home-and-away ties in World Group II playoffs will be played at the same time in the World Qualifiers and World Group I playoffs.

The 12 winning nations from the World Group II playoffs will compete in the World Group II ties in September along with the losing nations from World Group I.

Losing nations in World Group II, meanwhile, will compete in the Regional Group III in June/July or September.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Kristel Satumbaga

Mark Julius Bordeos of Bicycology-Army made his title campaign felt by ruling the opening stage of the LBC Ronda Pilipinas 10th anniversary race that started and ended here on Sunday.

The 24-year-old Bordeos stepped up late and then bested Jerry Aquino, Jr. of Scratch It, Rustom Lim of 7Eleven Cliqq-Air21 by Roadbike Philippines and George Oconer of Standard Insurance-Navy in a mad dash to the finish to claim the 129.5-kilometer stage.

All four clocked 3 hours, 6 minutes and 7 seconds in this annual race, which is presented by LBC and supported by the Manny V. Pangilinan Foundation, staking P1 million to the individual champion.

“I just stayed behind them and pulled away in the last 500 meters, I knew I can do it because I’m in top shape,” said Army man Bordeos in Filipino.

Comebacking Mark Galedo of 7Eleven, the 2012 champion, struck early by towing a big group of breakaway riders but slowed in the end and settled for fifth in 3:06:10.

“It would have been nice race if they had given their share but I was disheartened that no one did so I just decided to just slow down a bit,” said the 34-year-old Galedo, who took the mountains classifications lap.

Jan Paul Morales of Standard checked in alongside Aiden James Mendoza, Marcelo Felipe and Mervin Corpuz and Celeste Cycling Team’s Alvin Benosa with identical times of 3:06:19.

Go for Gold’s Daniel Ven Carino, Jonel Carcueva likewise got into the mixed and ended up at 12th in 3:07:01.

Standard’s Ronald Oranza, the last Filipino winner here two years ago, was with 7Eleven’s Nichol Pareja at 16th in 3:07:28 while Reimon Lapaza of Celeste, the 2014 titlist of who is also making a comeback, cracked the Top 20 by clocking 3:07:32.

In the team race, Standard seized the early lead with a total time of 12:24:55 while 7Eleven and Celeste Cycles were second and third in 12:27:26 and 12:27:35, respectively.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Jonas Terrado

Gilas Pilipinas will try to figure out how to approach its preparation for the uncertain schedule of the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers home match against Thailand.

The Philippines was supposed to host the Thais last Thursday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum but FIBA decided to postpone the game as a preventive measure against the spread of the novel coronavirus disease.

FIBA has yet to announce when the Gilas-Thailand tussle will take place, which leaves coach Mark Dickel and the coaching staff to deliberate its plans after Sunday’s road game against Indonesia.

“That would depend a lot on what FIBA say is likely to be the re-issued date of the game. And maybe that is something they can’t answer,” Dickel said. “That maybe something is a health issue as much as a scheduling issue.”

Dickel said that there’s a likelihood of holding once-a-week practices during the lull before scheduling daily sessions if FIBA finally comes up with a suitable date.

“I think that’s not realistic if there’s no end in sight,” Dickel said when asked of the possibility of having the same schedule as Gilas did before facing Indonesia.

“I think what we did by having a couple weeks of preparation is great. Maybe it would be just a continual once-a-week (practice) and then when it is reconfirmed when the date is then we get ready to play that game again.

“And once again, I don’t know. I’m just thinking of what would make sense,” Dickel added.

Gilas program director Tab Baldwin admitted that the uncertainties will make it tough for them to plan ahead.

“Uncertainties are always a concern when you’re planning,” said Baldwin, who echoed Dickel’s sentiments of a possible once-a-week training.

“I like planning. I like being prepared. So yes, it’s a concern, but we can’t control the coronavirus, we can’t control the spread of it, we can’t control countries or FIBA’s reaction to it. So we just have to be on alert and do the best that we can.”

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Waylon Galvez

Barangay Ginebra San Miguel forward Joe Devance is set to have ‘stem cell’ treatment next month in Germany as part of his preparation for his 14th season in the Philippine Basketball Association.

Devance is scheduled to leave March 9 for the medical procedure that famous athletes like the late Kobe Bryant had which helped him recover from an Achilles injury.

Devance, a versatile 6-foot-7 forward, has been bothered by several injuries over the years with knee pains and an afflicted right foot that recently required surgery.

“My foot still hurt because I had surgery the last time,” said Devance, who played limited minutes in the Finals of the PBA Governors’ Cup against the Meralco Bolts.

“My foot is still aching a bit, my knees are always going to hurt a bit because I don’t have cartilage on my knees anymore. I played my whole career like this and it’s just getting worse and worse.”

Devance said it was his decision – and on his own expense – that he’s taking this treatment.

“I’m planning to go to Germany soon so I’m going to get a stem cell. I’m going to have 10 shots,” said Devance, who recently signed a fresh one-year contract with Ginebra.

The treatment, according to Devance, is from March 9 to 12 and would require two to three weeks to recover. To get fully ready for his return, however, it may take a month before he makes his season debut.

The 45th PBA season opens March 6, with Ginebra starting ts Philippine Cup campaign March 8.

When healthy, Devance is one of the best at the forward position as he plays both the three and four positions with equal effectiveness. His versatility also allows Ginebra coach Tim Cone to use Devance as playmaker on offense and a defensive matchup at the center spot.

In his career, Devance has bagged 10 PBA championships, one with Alaska, five with Magnolia (formerly San Mig Super Coffee) and four – so far – with Ginebra all under Cone.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Agence France-Presse

Miami broke the franchise record for points in the first half en route to a 124-105 rout of the Cleveland Cavaliers on a night when the Heat retired the jersey of guard Dwyane Wade.

The Heat led 82-52 at the halftime to produce its best half in history after making 14 of their first 17 shots to start the NBA contest.

Dwyane Wade's No. 3 jersey is officially immortalized in Miami. ⚡ #L3GACY pic.twitter.com/lABAcwVNnT

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) February 23, 2020

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

At halftime, the Heat honored the 38-year-old Wade whose No. 3 jersey was retired and raised to the rafters at AmericanAirlines Arena.

Thirteen-time all-star Wade helped Miami to three NBA championships and is the organization’s all-time leader in games, points, assists and steals.

Wade’s speech included a tribute to the late Kobe Bryant.

“Kobe said the most important thing is to try to inspire others so they can be great in whatever they try to do,” Wade said. “I hope I inspired you. Thank you for making me a part of your legacy. Please know you’re a huge part of mine.”

"Kobe said the most important thing is to try to inspire others so they can be great in whatever they choose to do. I hope I have inspired all of you."@DwyaneWade ended his jersey retirement ceremony with a tribute to Kobe ⚡ pic.twitter.com/Q4HuaQAhd1

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) February 23, 2020

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Playing without top scorer Jimmy Butler, the Heat shot 77 percent in the first half against the last-place Cavaliers.

Kendrick Nunn tallied 24 points and eight assists to lead the seven Miami players who scored in double figures. Duncan Robinson added 19, Kelly Olynyk 17 and Goran Dragic 16 for the Heat, who improved to 23-3 at home.

Bam Adebayo had 15, and Derrick Jones and Jae Crowder each had 13.

The Heat shot 57 percent from the field overall and connected on 19 of 40 three-pointers.

Cedi Osman had 19 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, while Collin Sexton added 17 points and Tristan Thompson scored 16 for the Cavaliers who own the worst record in the Eastern Conference.

Kevin Love rested his ailing Achilles on the second game of back-to-backs for Cleveland, who have lost seven of their last nine games.

Source: Manila Bulletin

By Agence France-Presse

Tyson Fury dominated Deontay Wilder on the way to a seventh-round technical knockout, seizing the World Boxing Council heavyweight title as he handed the American his first defeat.

Fourteen months after their dramatic split-decision draw, Britain’s Fury battered the American champion — who had blood streaming from his left ear and leaking from his mouth when referee Kenny Bayless called a halt.

Fury had dropped Wilder in the third and fifth rounds and was landing blows at will — Fury’s corner finally throwing in the towel and Bayless stopping it at 1:39 of the round.

Source: Manila Bulletin

A boxing world champion and an Olympic silver medalist are among those to be rendered with major awards in next month’s annual SMC-PSA (Philippine Sportswriters Association) Awards Night at the Centennial Hall of the Manila Hotel.

Nesthy Petecio and Hidilyn Diaz lead the 12 personalities who are the recipients of major awards from the country’s oldest media organization in the March 6 gala night presented by the Philippine Sports Commission, MILO, Cignal TV, Philippine Basketball Association, Rain or Shine, and Air Asia.

The two lady athletes are also members of Team Philippines which will be honored with the coveted Athlete of the Year award on account of its successful regaining of the Southeast Asian Games overall championship.

Petecio, 27, won the featherweight gold in the AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships in Ulan-Ude, Russia, while Diaz, 29, and silver medal winner in the 2016 Rio Olympics, bagged a silver in the Asian Championships and a pair of bronze in the World Weightlifting Championships.

The country’s first qualifier in the Tokyo Olympics in pole vaulter Ernest John Obiena is also a major awardee for topping the qualifying meet in Chiara, Italy. He also won golds in the Asian Athletics Championship and the Summer Universiade.

Two other world boxing champions are also in the honor roll list in reigning International Boxing Federation (IBF) super-flyweight title holder Jerwin Ancajas and World Boxing Organization (WBO) bantamweight king Johnriel Casimero.

Not to be left out are major awardees in basketball composed of the undefeated, sixth-time UAAP women’s champion National University, five-time PBA Philippine Cup winner San Miguel Beermen, and five-time MVP June Mar Fajardo.

Completing the list of major awardees are golfers Juvic Pagunsan, Aidric Chan, and Princess Superal, and Horse of the Year Union Bell.

Still to be named are recipients of special citation, the MILO Junior Athletes of the Year, the regular Tony Siddayao awardees, and the Chooks-To-Go Fan Favorite Award.

Source: Manila Bulletin