MikeLigalig.com

By Lily O Ramos

The Year of the Tiger was generally productive even as some pleasant surprises came to the fore despite the usual difficulties and struggles concomitant to the sports community as a whole.

What could be more wonderful than 32-year old Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao’s winning his eighth world boxing title -- the World Boxing Council (WBC) super welter diadem versus Mexico’s Antonio Margarito at Cowboys Stadium, Arlington, Texas to prove to all and sundry that he is the best pound-for-pound pug at present.

Pacman has certainly raised the level of world boxing to a lucrative art and entertainment as he keeps earning millions of dollars in terms of TV viewership and commercials in-and-out of the ring.

It does not matter that he is also a Congressman of Sarangani province; after all, he was already rich even before he threw his hat into the political arena.

The fact that he has been named by the Ring Magazine as the” best boxer of the decade” (2000s) is a tribute to his ringside savvy that is unequalled nowadays.

In its March 2010 issue, Pacquiao was listed on top ahead of Floyd Mayweather, Bernard Hopkins, Joe Calzaghe, Juan Manuel Marquez, Winky Wright, Shane Mosley, Marco Antonio Barrera, Rafael Marquez, and Israel Vazquez.

The Ring Magazines’ contributing editor, Eric Raskin, wrote that “As far as they are concerned, Manny Pacquiao is the only choice for number one.”

Raskin also noted that in the division rankings, Pacquiao rated no. 2 at super-bantamweight (122 lbs) and feather (126), first at super-feather (130), fourth at super-lightweight (140), and third at welter (147). Pacquiao was even voted “Fighter of the Year” thrice (2006, 2008 and 2009) by the ring and that was more than enough to name him as the recipient of the accolade.

Pacquiao’s biggest wins during the decade were those over Miguel Barrera (twice), Erik Morales (twice), Juan Manuel Marquez, Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto.

In football, the Philippine Azkals, coached by British Simon MCNenemy and peopled by fil-foreign booters, have caught the public’s fancy and earned accolades from doubting Thomases who have thought all along that football is a throw-away sport.

The Azkals marched into the semifinals of the ASEAN Football Federation Suzuki Cup for the first time in 14 years. On December 2, they signaled their readiness to play against the best in the Southeast Asian region when they forged a 1-1 draw with two-time champion Singapore with Chris Greatwich scoring the winning marker on the 90th minute. .

The Azkals displayed a splendid and high level performance by upsetting defending champion VietNam in front of its hometown fans in Hanoi last December 5.

Greatwich scored his second goal in the tournament by delivering the games’ first goal on the 38th and Phil Younghusband followed it up on the 79th.

The Azkals managed a scoreless draw with Myanmar last December 8 to formalize its entry into the semifinals -- which ignited grand celebration by the country’s football community.

Support from all sectors poured in for the Azkals with sports patron Manny V. Pangilinan leading the donors with a P1-million pledge, followed by Asia Brewery with P250,000. An anonymous football supporter also donated US$ 20,000 for the training of football players. However, the Cinderella magic fell short as the Azkals absorbed a 0-1 loss twice at the hands of the Indonesians in Jakarta last December 16 and 19.

Despite the semifinal loss, the Azkals’ performance will always be considered as a milestone in the history of Philippine football.

Also in December, WBA Interim super flyweight titlist Nonito Donaire Jr. earned his 24th straight victory and his ninth knockout in his past 11 fights with a fourth-round knockout over Ukrainian bantamweight Vladimir Sidorenko, who was knocked out for the first time in his career.

Nicknamed ‘The Filipino Flash’, Donaire rose to 25-1, with his 17th knockout against Sidorenko, who was beaten bloody yet continued to come forward into the vicious attack of Donaire.

With the victory, Donaire set himself up for a February 19 bout against WBO/WBC bantamweight king Mexico’s Fernando Montiel at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas. In the Guangzhou Asian Games, the Philippine Team, led by veterans Mikee Jaworski and Vittorio Marcos Barba captured third place in Zone 9 of the FEI world dressage challenge.

The Philippine Guangzhou Asiad contingent failed to surpass the four gold- six silver-nine bronze medal output in the 2006 Asiad version in Doha, Qatar as they returned home with a paltry three gold-three silver and nine bronze medals.

In the 2010 Asian PARA Games, the Philippines collected four silver and three bronze medals to finish 21st overall in the 2010 Asian PARA Games in Guangzhou, China.

The silver medalists were paralympian Adeline Dumapong and Achelle Guion in powerlifting, Josephine Medina in table tennis and Isidro Vildosola in athletics.

The bronze medals went to Anne Grace Abeto and Roger Tapia in athletics and Daniel Amaso Jr. in swimming. Five Asian Games-bound tracksters spearheaded the Philippines to a six-gold medal haul in the 87th Malaysian Track and Field Open.

They are Henry Dagmil in long jump, Rene Herrera in the 3-thousand meter steeplechase, Danilo Fresnido and Rosie Villarito in javelin throw, Arniel Ferrera in hammer throw and Sheena Atilano in the hurdles event.

Football was turbulent in November with Jose Mari Martinez being ousted as the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) at the Philsports Arena.

Of the 29 football association presidents, 25 voted in favor for the ouster of Martinez while two abstained and another two voted against it.

Mariano Araneta of the Iloilo Football Association -- chairman of the finance committee -– was voted as head for the unexpired term which runs until November next year. September morn was not so good on Philippine chess as -- Grandmaster Zhao Jun of China made history by becoming the first champion in the FIDE P President Florencio Campomanes Memorial Cup Chess Tournament as GM Wesley So emerged as the top Filipino player.

Last September, former world bowling champion Biboy Rivera and Apple Posadas won their national men’s and ladies titles to earn trip to the 2010 World Cup International Finals on October 15 to 24 in Toulon, France.

The 36-year-old Rivera blasted multi-titled Paulo Valdez, 243—235, 249-175 in the men’s final while Posadas whipped younger sister Lara, 188-157, 247-177, in the ladies’ finals.

In billiards, Lee Vann Corteza wrapped up a scintillating run in the Predator Sweet 16 Tournament by whipping American Rodney Morris, 8-5 at the Block, SM City, North Edsa, Quezon City.

Corteza mounted a searing rally from 0-4 down, rattling off seven racks in a row to get to the hill before Morris pulled one back for 7-5 count.

But Corteza was not to be denied and took the final rack to pocket the top prize of US$ 13,000 or about P570,000. Filipino cue master Efren ‘Bata’ Reyes beat compatriot Roberto Gomez to rule the 10th annual Predator International 10-ball Championships held in Quezon City.

Reyes came back from a 7-4 deficit to fashion out a 10-9 victory over Gomez in the race-to-10 finals to win the championship trophy and pocket the US$ 10,000 top prize.

In tennis, veterans Cecil Mamiit and Treat Huey salvaged the two reverse singles as the Philippines pulled off a dramatic 3-2 win over host South Korea in their Asia/Oceania Davis Cup Group 1 tie at the Chanwon Municipal tennis courts.

The 34- year old Mamiit rallied from two sets down to keep the Filipinos alive and then leveled the tie at 2-2 when Lim Yong-Kyu retired in the fourth set after twisting his ankle.

Huey delivered the clincher with a sizzling service game, firing 21 aces to down 17-year-old Jeong Suk-Young.

In athletics, steeplechaser Rene Herrera produced a gold medal while long jumper Henry Dagmil managed a silver medal finish, capping a fruitful showing in the 72nd Singapore Open Track and Field Championships.

Dagmil, who won the gold medal in his favorite event during the third leg of the Asian Grand Prix in Chennai, India last June 9, jumped his way to a second-best distance of 7.40 meters, 29 meters short of his best record he posted four months ago.

In volleyball, the Adamson Lady Falcons bucked an early challenge by San Sebastian and cruised in the final two sets to fashion out a 26-24, 25-17, 25-16 victory to capture the Shakey’s V-League Season 7 second conference crown at The Arena in San Juan City.

The Lady Falcons wrapped up the short but thrilling best-of-three series, 2-1.

Adamson became just the third team after UST with six and La Salle with three titles in the country’s premier women’s volley league.

On September 26, top junior netter Jeson Patrombon emerged as the boys’ singles champion of the China Junior 2 Tournament in Xiamen.

The 17-year-old top seed Patrombon prevailed over seventh-seed Nikola Milojevic of Serbia, 6-3, 6-1 to record his first singles victory of the year.

In football, Team Philippines defeated Norway, 4-3 to win the host Cup of the 2010 Homeless World in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Team Philippines finished the 2010 Homeless World Cup with eight consecutive wins — good enough for a 25th place finish overall.

The Pinoy booters suffered three losses in the tournament and two of them came from champion Brazil and runner-up Chile.

On September 30, Ateneo de Manila swept the 73rd UAAP men’s basketball championship to complete a rare grandslam by beating Far Eastern University, 65-62, in game two at the Araneta Coliseum.

The Blue Eagles bucked off a sluggish start to topple the higher seeded Tamaraws, and clinch their eighth overall league title.

Ryan Buenafe led Ateneo with 23 points, six rebounds and an assist and was adjudged as the Final’s MVP.

Meanwhile, the Adamson Lady Falcons clinched the women’s basketball crown, as they finished off the FEU Lady Tams game 2 of their own title series.

Last October, the Nokia under-18 Philippine team clobbered host Yemen, 97-48, to finish 5th place in the 21st FIBA Asia U-18 Championships in Sana’a for their highest finish in 15 years of the tournament.

The Filipinos also bettered their previous standing of seventh place in Tehran.

The Philippines’ campaign in the 39th World Chess Olympiad ended with a heart-breaking 1.5-2-5 decision loss to lower rated Estonia and landed 50th overall in the final standings -- failing to accomplish its target of making it to the top 20 in Russia.

That was four places lower than their 46th place finish during the 2008 Dresden Olympiad and six places lower than their 44th place finish in the 2006 Turin Olympiad.

The Filipinos’ best finish-ever in the Olympiad was eighth place during the 1988 Olympiad in Thessaloniki, Greece. The Filipinas finished 44th after the tiebreak.

In billiards, Ronato Alcano turned back compatriot Lee Vann Corteza, 11-7 in an-all Filipino finals to rule the 2010 Pattaya 9-ball Invitational pool competition in Thailand.

It was Alcano’s first major title this year since winning the 8-ball division of the Galveston Classic Billiards Extravaganza in Texas last year.

Alcano became the third player in pool history to become a double world champion after winning the world 8-ball in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates three years ago.

Ace jetski rider Paul del Rosario raised the Philippine flag high as he achieved another milestone by becoming the first Filipino world champion in the 2010 International Jet

Sports and Boating Association World Finals in Arizona. Del Rosario’s victory came as a surprise as he upstaged topnotch rivals with relative ease to capture the Premium Open Expert Runabout that’s usually dominated by Americans, Europeans, Brazilians and Thais.

In bowling, 2006 World Masters champion Biboy Rrivera lost to eventual men’s champion Michael Schmidt of Canada and failed to barge into the championship round of the AMF Bowling World Cup in Toulon, France.

The 36-year-old World Cup Rookie, who was swept by Schmidt in their best of three playoff series, 247-215 and 252-202, settled for third place overall finish in the men’s division.

At about the same time, Dottie Ardina birdied two of the last four holes to fire a one-under 71 and power the Philippines to a best-ever joint eighth finish in over four decades in the World Amateurs Golf Team championships topped by South Korea in Argentina.

Chihiro Ikeda also birdied the par-5 15th to card a 74 as team RP closed out with a decent one-over 145 for a one-under 575 total.

That was 29 strokes behind Korea’s amazing 30-under 546 but it proved enough to better the country’s previous best finish of ninth in 1968 in Australia.

The Philippines’ top junior triathlete Kim Mangrobang ruled the Muscat Asian Beach Games test race in Oman. The 18-year-old Mangrobang, a former silver medalist in the Asia Cup series, crossed the finish line –2 minutes and 19 seconds faster than her closest pursuers.

In the men’s side, Philip Jurola — another young recruit of the triathlon association of the Philippines — placed fifth overall, displaying a strong challenge against opponents from the Netherlands, Britain and Hong Kong.

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Meantime, Ikeda completed a three-peat in the ladies side of the event, carding a 75, to dominate the field with a 222 aggregate and beating Korean Kim Hui Mang by five strokes to annex her first crown in the season.

In boxing, if there’s anyone who could be Manny Pacquiao’s heir apparent, it should be Nonito “The Filipino Flash" Donaire Jr., who stopped Mexico’s Manuel Vargas in the third round to retain his World Boxing Association Interim super flyweight title in the main fight of the “Pinoy Power Three boxing card at the Las Vegas Hilton in February.

Donaire delivered a left uppercut to cut down the smaller Vargas at one minute and 33 seconds of the third round to improve his record to 23-1, including 15 knockouts,

Meantime, welterweight Mark Jason Melligen and featherweight Bernabe Concepcion also fashioned out explosive victories as the Philippines completed a 3-2 win over the Latino fighters.

The 85th season of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) football competition saw a double celebration for college of St. Benilde teams.

St. Benilde wrested its first NCAA men’s football title in 12 years, while its junior side, the La Salle Greenhills, retained the juniors crown for the 11th straight year.

After back-to-back runner-rup finishes, the Blazers ended the eight-year reign of San Beda College with a 1-0 win, courtesy of John Dalaota’s winning goal in the eight minute of the game.

In the juniors side, La Salle Greenhills defeated the San Beda Red Cubs, 3-0, to complete an 11-game domination of the league.

Grandmaster Wesley So made history by bagging the top junior award for the second straight year in the 2010 Aeroflot Open Chess championships in Moscow, Russia.

So agreed to a final-round draw with GM Eduardo Iturrizaga of Venezuela after 10 moves of the queen’s gambit to finish for a share of seventh to 19th places with 5.5 points on three wins and five draws and only one loss in the prestigious nine-round tournament.

Overall, So finished in 11th place after tiebreak -– a big improvement from his 2009 performance where he finished only in tie for 19th to 36th places.

The draw in the last round was also more than enough for the 16-year-old Filipino champion to bag the coveted top junior trophy, upstaging GMs Sanan Sjugirov of Russia, Eltaj Safarli of Azerbaijan and Saleh Salem of United Arab Emirates.

Going back to golf, Elmer Salvador outdueled Jay Bayron and Ferdie Aunzo in a final day shootout among Davaoeno shotmakers, closing out with a gutsy one-under 71 to capture the ICTSIi classic crown by two strokes at the Mt. Malarayat Golf and Country Club in Batangas.

Salvador, who fired a 67 to catch Bayron and Aunzo at the helm after 36 holes, rode on two clutch pars at the front and a birdie from long range on the 17th then watched his rivals crack under pressure to essay the victory on an eight-under 208 aggregate.

Bayron finished with a 73 for a 210 for the runner-up honors, Jun Bernis settled for solo third at 211, while Aunzo dropped to joint fourth at 212 with Orlan Sumcad.

The Philippine Patriots asserted basketball supremacy in the southeast Asian region after bagging the 1st ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) championship with a 3-0 sweep at the Britama Arena in Jakarta.

The Patriots ended the best-of-five finals series against Indonesia’s Satria Muda Britama, 75-67, with Best Import awardee Jason Dixon leading the team with 28 points and 12 rebounds, while Gabe Freeman added 17 points and 19 rebounds.

Warren Ybanez was adjudged as the MVP of the inaugural season.

Patriots coach Louie Alas said it was defense that was crucial to his team’s triumph.

A deluge of victories in the team events affirmed the status of the national capital region as the winningest performers as the CHED (Commission on Higher Education) games came to a rousing close.

No awards were given to the overall champions, but bragging rights in the event belonged to the NCR sports juggernaut, which topped in chess, badminton, baseball, basketball, women’s softball and table tennis.

NCR was way on top of the medal standings with 162 golds, 42 silvers and 40 bronzes, with Region 6 a distant second (40-66-54) and Region 7 third (33-42-34).

Typifying NCR’s dominance was men’s and women’s basketball, with NCAA titlist San Sebastian and Lyceum of the Philippines University crushing their respective rivals to both complete their unbeaten run for the gold.

Rodel Mayol kept the WBC light-flyweight title after his fight against Omar Nino Romero of Guadalajara, Mexico was declared a technical draw.

After feeling out the first round, Mayol unleashed a barrage of powerful uppercuts on Romero in the second round that wobbled him.

Referee Vic Drakulich came in to stop the action when Romero unleashed a wicked left that hit squarely at the jaw of the momentarily defenseless Mayol who crashed to the canvas almost unconscious.

Ring officials, headed by WBC vice president Mauricio Sulaiman, deliberated the situation which resulted in a technical draw decision allowing Mayol to retain his title. Far Eastern University displayed composure and sheer determination to defeat University of Santo Tomas, 1-0, clinching the 72nd UAAP men’s football crown at the Ateneo grounds.

Despite the absence of its three suspended players Jason Cordova, Joshua Almenar and Romnick Jover, the Tamaraws showed fighting hearts to wrest their first title since 2008.

Dexter Jae Chio scored the lone marker of the game from outside the penalty area in the 76th minute -- four minutes after his teammate Mandie Boy Lunag was thrown out for violent foul.

The title was FEU’s third overall as Jake Hugo led the individual awardees by copping the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award.

In the distaff side, La Salle was crowned as the UAAP women’s football titlist, as it outclassed defending champion UST 1-0.

Rookie of the Year Adrianne Anianna Yniguez struck the lone marker of the game on the 56th minute. Meantime, national team member Samantha Nierras emerged as the MVP and the best midfielder of the season.

In the juniors side, the Ateneo Blue Eaglets were crowned as champions, winning over Far Eastern University.

Filipino teenage sensation, Jeson Patrombon, injured his right foot and lost to Japanese Rikutu Furuta, 6-2, 6-2 in the finals of the Grade One ITF juniors in Nagoya, Japan.

Playing with the controlled movements due to a foot injury suffered during practice, the 5th seeded Patrombon put up a big fight at the early going of the final match -- but suffered another misfortune, twisting his left ankle while running for the ball on the backhand side.

Tennis prodigy Jeson Patrombon made it to the top 50 of the world international tennis federation rankings.

The 17-year old tennis academy of the Philippines Foundation scholar leapfrogged from 76th to 48th with 415 points to become the highest Filipino junior netter in the ITF list. He went past Francis Casey Alcantara -- who dropped to 49th with 412 points.

Patrombon, who started the year at 250th, made the huge leap with semis stints in both singles and doubles in Grade One tournaments in Thailand and Malaysia plus singles finals and doubles semis appearances in Japan.

April was no month for fools as World Champion Lily Pecante and Rose Vasquez produced gold medal performances in 2010 World Masters bench press championships held in Orlando, Florida.

Pecante, whose competitors jumped weight classes to avoid her, was left unchallenged in her weight class.

Pecante went on to lift 130-kilograms to break her own 90-kg class Asian record by 2.5kg which she set in Palm Springs, California during the 2008 world masters powerlifting championships.

Vasquez, 2009 Asian Open bench press champion, ripped the Philippine record with a 102.5kg lift at 58kg in winning the gold in the 60kg class. Vasquez’ lift was only 2.5kg away from the Asian record.

Filipino Mark Jason Melligen scored a ten round unanimous decision win over Mexican Norberto Gonzales in the main event of top rank’s featured event “battle at the hard rock” at the Hard Rock Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Melligen started strong and pressed the action early against the tough and resilient Mexican Gonzalez.

The Filipino fighter was the aggressor for much of the fight and came away with a 100-90 win on all cards.

The unanimous decision win improved Melligen’s record to 18-2, with 13 knockouts while Gonzalez now stands at 18-2, with 12 k-os.

Lady golfing buddies Lovelynn Guioguio and Chihiro Ikeda pooled a pair of 70’s then nipped local bets Caroline Bon and Emily Perry in the countback to rule the New Zealand and women’s foursomes championship at the par-73 Napier Golf Club.

The Filipino duo combined for two three-under par cards to top the 36-hole tournament, which served as a prelude to the New Zealand women’s stroke play championship.

In athletics, the National Capital Region (NCR) reigned as overall champion of the Palarong Pambansa for the fifth straight year at the Tarlac Recreational Park by dominating the elementary division with 293 points, followed by Calabarzon with 184.67 points

The Big City bets capped its domination with a three-gold haul on the final day, clinching the softball, baseball and volleyball titles on the final day of action, to accumulate 347 total points.

Eastern Visayas finished second with 225.5 and Calabarzon was third.

Chihiro Ikeda battled back from four holes down with seven holes to play to force a playoff but bogeyed the second extra hole and lost to 15-year old New Zealand national champion Cecilia Cho in the final of the New Zealand match play championship in New Zealand.

Ikeda, who stunned a number of local bets, including top seed Caroline Bon in the second round, flubbed a par-saving eight-foot putt on the 38th hole after missing the green from an errant drive to yield the crown to the 15-year old reigning New Zealand national champion.

But it was a great comeback by the top ICTC-backed bet, who struggled all day on the layout’s sleek putting surface and fell behind by as many as four holes after the 29th as she lost her touch.

A Filipino boxing contingent demolished their opponents with knockout victories in “Philippines versus the rest of the World” boxing card in Dubai.

Knockout artist Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista, a former WBO Intercontinental and WBC Interim International Featherweight champion, sent Thailand’s Saichon Sotornpitak to the canvas in 1 minute, 59 seconds of the sixth round to improve his record to 28-2 with 21 wins within the distance.

Milan “Milenyo” Melindo likewise successfully defended his WBC Youth Intercontinental flyweight championship belt after scoring a fourth-round technical knockout against another Thai boxer, at Komrit twins gym.

Larry “Bon Jovi” Canillas also came out with an impressive knockout win, unleashing powerful right crosses and uppercuts that brought down Tanzania’s Fred Sayuni in the sixth round. Young golfer Marcel Puyat fired a two-under par 70 struggling from five strokes down to turn back David Lee, then pounced on Will Zalatoris’ late bogeys to capture the American Junior Golf Association Armour/ Hunter Mahan championship boys’ crown at the TPC Craig ranch course in McKinney, Texas.

The 17-year-old Puyat rammed in the three birdies in the final round to negate his lone bogey mishap on no. 11 for that 70 and a 54-hole total of 216.

This was Puyat’s first win on the American junior golf tour. (PNA Feature) DCT/LOR

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