Philippine Sports News and Updates

Last Saturday at 8 p.m., the Grand Convention Center overflowed. Red, blue, green, white—name a T-shirt color, it was visible. Ilonggo, Tagalog, Cebuano, Chabakano—name a dialect, it was represented. Bowling, basketball, billiards, badminton, golf, tennis—name a sport, it was played.

After 30 years of existence and three days of dripping sweat and pumped fists and friendly handshakes, the 30th PAL InterSports concluded last weekend.

Sev Sarmenta stood as emcee and made us laugh. Bernadette Sembrano, his co-emcee, was pretty in her short, brown hair—and how she charmed the men.

Sitti, the Bossa Nova singer who’s only 20, wore a leg-revealing dress and soothed everyone’s muscle pains with her voice. Philippine Airlines’ top honchos were all in attendance, led by president Jaime Bautista.

Overall champions? Of course, who else but the host club: Los Jefes de Cebu. Out of the six sporting events, we topped
almost each one…

CHESTER. After reading his name hundreds of times on these sports pages, I finally got to watch Chester Cokaliong. Right after last Thursday’s Opening Ceremonies at the City Sports Club, our basketball team played Iloilo. On the very first play, the ball was thrown to a lefthander who stood beyond the three-point line. Within a second after catching it, he released the ball as it sliced through the air. Whoosh! Three-point shot. Aren’t those two synonyms?

Chester. Three-Pointer. Yes they are. They even rhyme. At the end of the 40-age-category event, Cebu emerged as champions. And who was the three-point shoot-out and two-ball winner? His initials start with the same letter as Champion.

BILL UYBENGKEE. Our bowlers—pardon the pun—bowled over the competition.

Really, they did. Led by the husband and wife team (probably the best in the whole country) of Bill and Cynthia Uybengkee, our team composed of Ben Miranda, Ernest Tan, Docdoc Gothong and Sidney Guani won as Team Champion, Team Highest Single and Triple, Highest Men’s Single (Docdoc Gothong scoring 244) and Highest Women’s Single (Cynthia Uybengkee, 180).

Paeng Nepomuceno was a guest. And on Saturday night when he stepped on stage, there was a gasp from the crowd. Paeng is 50 years old but he looks as fit as a 21-year-old bodybuilder. His left arm—the one he used to win four World Cup titles in three decades—was as thick and muscular as any athlete’s leg.

GINA JUAN. Our Los Jefes de Cebu badminton team stood proud as champions.

Meeting stiff resistance from other badminton-fanatic cities, we emerged champions. Thanks to Jordan Tanco, Jomi Tan, Benny Que, Chris Que, Arman Bolo, Ruel Dihiansan, Louie Moro, and (women) Cheiko Saito, Cathy O, Arlene Yu, Jeselle Laranas, Noeme Orellosa and team captain Gina Juan.

TENNIS. Our Cebu netters placed third. We lost to Davao (champions) and Bacolod (runners-up). The games, held at the Casino Espanol and Alta Vista, all came down to the fifth and deciding matches. Apart from myself, our team was composed of Golax Garcia, Roy Tabotabo, Jaime Quinones, Macky Michael, Joel Tabura, Jun San Juan, Danny Mella, Alex Ngo, Fritz Tabura, Bobby Espera, Nelson Bacaltos, Nene Montederamos and Rose Furigay.

In all, this wasn’t only the biggest-ever PAL Intersports in history—but also the best-organized. To Los Jefes de Cebu, hail to the Chiefs!

PACMAN. The day after the PAL Intersports, I went to the City Sports Club.

Manny Pacquiao was there. Fever? Did anyone say he had fever? When Manny played our Cebu Sports Media squad that morning, he played every minute of every quarter—non-stop for 40 minutes. He sliced through the middle, sprinted for fast-breaks, drilled 25-footers and—vintage Manny—hated to lose.

But Team Pacquiao lost. Finally. After losing the previous two Sundays, we beat them 95-91. The star of his team? The man
who scored 30 points? Who?

The basketball star who’ll knockout Barrera on Oct. 6.

Source: Sun Star