CATALAN WINS GOLD, SILVER IN CYCLING OPEN SOUTHEAST Asian Games two-time gold medalist Alfie Catalan


bagged a gold medal in the individual pursuit and silver in team pursuit, Thursday in the 2010 National Open Cycling Championships at the Amoranto Velodrome in Quezon City. JOSEF T. RAMOS


A 8


sports The Manila Times FRIDAY D ecember 10, 2010


‘Lack of facility’ bars Philippines’ hosting of Suzuki Cup’s next leg


BY JOSEF T. RAMOS CORRESPONDENT


elimination round of the biennial Suzuki Cup, the Philippines absorbed an off-court setback when the Asian Football Federation (AFF) declared that the country cannot bid for the hosting the tournament’s next leg.


D


The Philippines, which scored a 2-0 upset against Vietnam on Monday, offered to host the Suzuki Cup semifinals, which will begin December 16 but the AFF declined the bid, “The Philippines will not be able to play a leg of their semifinal or subsequent fi- nal at a home venue due to no available stadium in the country


meeting the requirements for the AFF Suzuki Cup,” said the AFF in an official press statement. A statement posted on the Su- zuki Cup’s official website reads, “The decision was done “after care- ful consideration and talks with the relevant parties. The Philip- pines Football Federation agrees they will be allowed to choose to


Patrimonio sisters PCA Open showdown looms


THE projected Patrimonio sis- ters—Anna Clarice and Anna Christine—championship show- down is still on after winning against their respective rivals in the 29th Philippine Columbian Asso- ciation (PCA) Open at the PCA claycourts in Paco, Manila. The top-seeded Anna Clarice


overpowered Tamitha Nguyen, 6- 4, 6-0, while second pick Anna Christine routed Martina Guba, 6- 0, 6-0, to reach the semifinals of the tournament presented by Cebuana Lhuillier.


Anna Clarice is expected to go all out in the semis when she takes on Filipino-American Desirae Krawczyk who toppled Maika Tanpoco, 6-4, 6-4. Krawczyk defeated Anna Clarice in the second round of Phinma In- ternational Juniors, two weeks ago.


Anna Christine, on the other hand, battles Marinel Rudas who advanced into the semifinals after opponent Louise Lopez withdrew from the tour- nament after incurring a knee injury. In the men’s division, five-time champion Johnny Arcilla and top- seed Marc Sieber roared into the semifinals with convincing victories over the respective foes.


Not to be undermined in his in- tent to retain his crown, Arcilla de- feated Rolando Ruel Jr, 6-3, 6-2, but the win was not as easy as he thought it would be.


Another leading title-contender, Filipino-German Sieber made short work of Ronald Joven, 6-2, 6-1, as he advanced into the next round. A total of P500,000 is up for grabs in this tournament also sup- ported by Accel and Dunlop.


EMIL C. NOGUERA


ESPITE its remarkable win over host country and reigning champion Vietnam in the


play one leg of their semifinal at a neutral venue or both legs in the country of their opposition.” Philippine Football Federation (PFF) newly elected President Ma- riano Araneta said they already made an appeal through team man- ager Dan Palami to the AFF to re- consider its decision but to no avail, “We appealed to the AFF earlier through our national team manager Dan Palami who was in Vietnam, to reconsider its decision but our plea fell on deaf ears,” said Araneta, add- ing, “We are preparing the Pana-ad Football Stadium in the Bacolod City for this eventuality, and we be- lieve that it would meet the stand- ards set by the AFF.” Panaad was the venue for the


2005 Southeast Asian Games men’s football competitions.


“Negros Occidental Football As- sociation President Charlie Co- juangco is on top of the situation


there, and he has assured us that he is moving heaven and earth for Pana-ad to meet the AFF’s strict venue regulations,” Araneta added. Unless the verdict is changed, the Filipinos won’t be able to play in the Philippines and are left with two options: play the game in an AFF- member country that is not in- cluded in the semifinals or play both matches in Indonesia. “We deplore this decision that


was arrived at without consulting the national team management team or even having the facilities in- spected,” Araneta said.


The Philippines earned a semifi- nals slot after finishing with a draw against Myanmar on Wednesday at the Hien Truong Stadium in Nam Dinh in Vietnam. The Filipinos would face Indone- sia, which topped the Group A tour- ney held in the Indonesian capital in Jakarta, in the semifinals.


Ginebra Kings, Talk ‘N Text fight over second position


GINEBRA and Talk ‘N Text, two teams sharing the second berth will face each other Friday in a game that would most likely de- cide the top-three compositions in the 36th Philippine Basketball As- sociation All-Filipino Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.


This will the Kings and the Tropang


Texters’ first and only encounter in the elimination round of the conference since both belong to the same group and the new format required each team to play its groupmates only once, but twice against teams of other group. The loser in the Ginebra and Talk


‘N Text game at 7:30 p.m. will drop to solo third with four losses, but the quest for the second twice-to-beat in- centive does not end there as both have still one game left against Rain or Shine and Air21 respectively on Sunday.


Solo leader San Miguel Beer clinched the first twice-to-beat advantage with an 11-3 slate regardless of the outcome of the Ginebra-Talk ‘N Text game, but its placing would still be determined at the end of the elimination round. If Ginebra settles for second with similar 11-3 record, the Beermen would occupy the top spot because of the “winner over-the-other” rule, but If Talk ‘N Text prevails with the same output of 11-3, then San Miguel drop to second because of inferior quotient. The top two teams enjoy a twice-to-


beat advantage over No. 8 and No. 7 respectively in the quarterfinal round. B-Meg Derby Ace, which has a 7- 6 card, also would attempt to for- malize its claim of solo fourth when it faces cellar-dweller and already out-of-contention Barako Bull in the first game at 5 p.m.


But a loss by the Llamados would also forge a five-way tie at fourth to eighth spots among Meralco (6- 7), Alaska (6-7), Air- 21 (6-7) and Rain or Shine (5-7).


FRANK CALAPRE


LeBron scores 33 to spark Miami Heat win over Jazz


LEBRON JAMES scored 33 points and Dwyane Wade added 28 to lead the Miami Heat to their sixth NBA victory in a row, a 111-98 triumph on Wednesday over the Utah Jazz. James added 9 assists and 7 re- bounds for the Heat, who im- proved to 15-8 overall, one game behind Orlando for the Southeast division lead. Zydrunas Ilgasuskas added 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Heat, who beat an Utah squad that had rallied from a 21-point deficit


in the third quarter to win at Miami 116-114 in over-time a month ago. Al Jefferson scored 25 points and added 11 rebounds while Deron Williams added 21 points and 12 as- sists for Utah, who also had 18 points from Paul Millsap. The Jazz fell to 16-7, one game ahead of Oklahoma City in the Southwest division.


Miami opened the fourth quarter with a 12-3 run to seize an 89-80 lead and refused to allow the Jazz another late rally this time.


ING Bank Manila launches ‘Running 20’ charity run


FRESH from a successful sponsorship of its Philippine clients in the ING- New York City Marathon, one of the world’s largest sporting events, ING Bank in Manila is mounting a spe- cial running event December 11 at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig. Dubbed “Running 20,” in celebra- tion of its 20th year in the country, ING Bank has partnered with Habitat for Humanity to raise more funds for the second ING Village in Calauan, Laguna that will house 100 families displaced by Typhoon Ondoy and informal set- tlers along the Pasig River.


Besides helping ING Bank and Habitat for Humanity build more homes, runners could get a chance to win cash prizes while those in the 20- kilometer event could win a slot in next year’s ING-NYC Marathon, dubbed as the “Mecca” or the “Holy Grail” of all running aficionados. The ING-NYC


Marathon is the largest one-day live sporting event in the world that draws more than 70,000 runners, 2 million spectators and a worldwide television audience of 315 million.


Previous Filipino runners in the ING-NYC Marathon included chief executive officer clients of ING and Sen. Pia Cayetano, also an avid run- ner. Habitat for Humanity and Ayala Land Inc. Chairman Fernando Zobel de Ayala, who also run in one of the ING-NYC Marathons, will also join “Running 20.” Through the support of runners like Zobel and their friends and families, ING Bank was able to raise funds three years ago for the first ING Village in Baseco, Tondo where there are now more than 170 homes. For “Running 20,” the target is to raise funds for at least 20 addi- tional houses for the second ING Vil- lage in Calauan, Laguna.


Flash report A


MID the belief that profes- sional boxing in the coun- try will return to the dark ages once Manny “PacMan” Pacquiao decides to archive the gloves, Nonito “Filipino Flash” Do- naire Jr. might just end up be- ing the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.


Donaire is far from becom- ing the second coming of PacMan, but being the first Filipino Flash is not a bad thing. In manhandling former world champion Wladimir Sidorenko on Sunday, Donaire showed that he has the tools necessary to carry the mantle in the event Pacquiao decides to fully concentrate on his burgeoning duties as an elec- tive public official.


BOXER SHORTS


meaningless World Boxing Coun- cil (WBC) Continental Americas bantamweight title. The big one will come on February 19, when he takes on WBC/WBO bantamweight ruler Fernando Montiel at a still un- disclosed venue. Donaire has not won a legitimate world title since July 2007, when he knocked out slugger Vic Darchinyan for the IBF


flyweight (122lb) crown.


While already in his dog years (34 years old) and carrying very little bark in his punches (just 7 knockouts in 22 victories), Sidorenko was ex- pected to put up a decent stand against Donaire, who was making his debut in the bantamweight (118 pounds) division. The Ukrainian held the World Boxing Association (WBA) bantamweight title from 2005 until 2008, along the way making six successful defenses. In a nine-year career, Sidorenko, a former Olympian, had beaten notable names like former world flyweight champion Leo Gamez and incumbent International Boxing Federation (IBF) bantamweight kingpin Joseph “King Kong” Agbeko. Going into the Donaire fight, Sidorenko had never kissed the canvas. Admit- tedly, though, he had been inactive for some time (fought only once in 2009) and had lost two of his last three bouts. As it turned out, Donaire ran over Sidorenko with the ease of a truck crushing bowling pins. Sidorenko’s stiff, plodding style was tailor-made for Donaire. Donaire rocked Sidorenko with vir- tually every punch he threw. Sidorenko was knocked down in rounds one, three and four. With Sidorenko down on his knees and blood oozing out from his broken nose, referee Marcos Rosales exercised fistic euthanasia and pulled the plug at the 1:48 mark of the fourth round. Donaire, 25-1, 17 knockouts, admitted after the fight that he never even got to execute his fight plan. The Filipino-American got off to such a sizzling start that he took his time before pull- ing the curtains down on Sidorenko. The win over Sidorenko gave Donaire the


Montiel, 43-2-2, with 33 knockouts, will be Donaire’s toughest opponent since Darchin- yan. The 31-year-old Mexican is a three-divi- sion champion (WBO flyweight, WBO super flyweight and WBC/WBO bantamweight) who has not tasted defeat since 2006, when he dropped a split decision to Jhonny Gonzalez for the WBO bantam crown. Montiel looked shopworn when he barely es- caped defeat with a technical draw against Alejandro Valdez in September 2009, but he si- lenced the soothsayers in April by stopping Hozumi Hasegawa in four rounds for the WBC bantamweight title. In July, Montiel starched Rafael “El Torito” Concepcion in just three rounds to successfully defend the combined WBC-WBO ban- tam belt. Concepcion was the same Panamanian who went the full 12-round distance with Donaire in August 2009. Montiel, who is coming off a motorcycle accident, will take on patsy Eduardo Garcia Saturday in a tune-up for the Filipino. Like Donaire, Montiel is a thinking fighter. The Mexican mixes his punches well to the head and body and is deceptively fast. Donaire’s defense, which occasionally tends to be leaky, will be tested to the hilt by Montiel. Montiel also has the requisite toughness (never been knocked out in 47 total fights) to withstand the Filipino Flash’s bombs.


Donaire has never been in a war of attri- tion, leaving many to wonder if he has the heart to survive a gut check. Hopefully, the Montiel fight will provide the answers to the many lingering questions surrounding Donaire’s true fistic worth.


Until then, the Filipino Flash remains a superhero in progress.


And that is the Flash report; or in the case of the bloodied Sidorenko, “breaking” news. ❋ ❋ ❋


For comments, the writer can be reached at atty_eduardo@ yahoo.com.


AFP


■ LeBron James (No. 6) of the Miami Heat brings the ball down court during a game against the Utah Jazz during the first half of an NBA game


December 8 at Energy Solutions Arena in


Salt Lake City, Utah. AFP PHOTO


ED C. TOLENTINO


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