QUINONES WINS 2ND GOLD IN CYCLING OPEN MOUNTAIN biker Eusebio Quinones delivered another


rousing performance to capture his second gold medal in the 2010 National Open Cycling Championships over the weekend in Amoranto Quezon City. Quinones earlier captured the mountain-bike gold.


JOSEF T. RAMOS


A 8


sports The Manila Times MONDAY D ecember 13, 2010 BY JUN MEDINA SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT


journeyman Giovani Soto Friday night in two rounds to arrange a big-ticket showdown with Pinoy knockout artist


M ■ Nonito Donaire Jr.


FILIPINO-FOREIGN players were on top of all things as Filipino-German Marc Sieber and Filipino-American Desirae Krawczyk dominated their respective singles titles on Sunday at the Philippine Columbian Association (PCA) Open at the PCA claycourts in Manila. The 22-year-old Sieber dethroned


veteran Johnny Arcilla, 6-2, 6-4, 6-1, in the men’s singles event pre- sented by Cebuana Lhuillier that gained him P100,000 prize and the


five-time PCA champion Arcilla settled for P50,000. “I was feeling good in the end


part of the game but in the beginning I was nervous because I wanted to make a good fight,” said Sieber, who is being eyed to play for the 2011 season of the prestigious Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group I tie. Krawczyk, finding enough fuel to


make strong in the later part of the second set, whipped Anna Christine


Fernando marks Open pro debut


FORMER national champion Mhark Fernando makes his keenly awaited professional debut as he gets into the mix of a star-studded field battling it out in this week’s Philippine Open Golf Championship at the Valley Golf Club in Antipolo. Fernando, who has served the national team the last


three years, is expected to figure prominently in the hunt for the crown in the P2-million event firing off Wednesday at the Valley Golf Club, owing to his form, talent and experience here and abroad. “If my putting click, I think I’ll have a chance,” said


the 28-year-old Fernando. “The key is to play well and stay in contention in the last two rounds.” Meanwhile, the traditional professional-amateur tour- nament will be held on Tuesday, with the leading pros on the PGT Order of Merit ranking and amateurs along with the event’s sponsors, VIPs, Valley Golf Club mem- bers and National Golf Association of the Philippines board members seeing action. The professional-amateur also serves as the final tuneup for the professionals vy- ing for the top P350,000 purse. Meanwhile, 11-year-old Lester Lagman, a Junior World campaigner in San Diego and in the Optimist Junior International in Florida, will get his first taste of big time golf as he joins the big guns in the tournament proper. The soft-spoken Fernando, who last saw action with


the PHL team in last month’s Asian Games, has won a professional tournament in last year’s ICTSI-Philippine Golf Tour, beating the cream of the crop in harsh play- ing condition at Riviera. He has also anchored the ICTSI-Canlubang golf


team’s romp in the annual PAL Interclub and won this year’s Malaysian Amateur Open crown while leading the PHL to the team championship. Fernando was set to turn pro early this year but was


prevailed upon to defer his decision to spearhead the Putra Cup, World Amateurs and Asian Games squads. An arm injury actually slowed down Fernando in his last few tournaments but the smooth-swinging shotmaker said he has recovered and is in fact looking forward to a grand debut.


Nonito Donaire Jr. Montiel, 31, looked formidable as he hurt Soto in the opening round, dropped him twice in the second and finally stopped him with about 30 seconds left in the second round. Following the win, the holder of


the World Boxing Council (WBC) and World Boxing Organization (WBO) bantamweight world titles, declared he is ready for bantam- weight contender Donaire. Donaire,


who is currently vacationing in Ma- nila, and Montiel are scheduled to meet in a televised title match Feb- ruary 19 on HBO. “I felt very strong. Soto is brave but I came to win and I’m ready for Donaire. On February 19, I will show everyone exactly who’s bet- ter,” Montiel was quoted by the Mexican media from Salitillo, Coahuila, Mexico.


The victory caps a very impres-


EXICAN world bantamweight champion Fernando Montiel made short work and knocked out


OCA APPOINTS MIKEE, MONICO


MUSCAT: Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) President Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah named Philippine Olympic


Committee Chairman Monico Puentevella and equestrienne Mikee Cojuangco-Jaworski to the Athletes Committee and International Relations Committee of the OCA, respectively.


KO win by Montiel seals fight vs. Nonito Donaire Jr.


sive 2010 campaign by Montiel (44-2-2, 34 by knockouts), who stopped all his opponents in four fights during the year.


Montiel stopped unbeaten Ciso Morales in the first round of the February 13 title defense of his WBO bantamweight title at the Las Vegas Hilton. Two months later, he scored a technical knockout over WBC bantamweight champion Hozumi Hasegawa just before the end of the fourth round of a title unifi- cation bout at Nihon Budokan in Tokyo, Japan.


On July 17, the hard-punching Mexican knocked out Rafael Con- cepcion, who lost to Donaire by unanimous decision, about a minute into the third round to de- fend his WBC and WBO titles in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, Mexico. The 28-year-old Donaire (25-1, 17 by knockouts) was equally impres-


FILIPINO-FOREIGN PLAYERS DOMINATE 2010 PCA OPEN


Patrimonio for an exhausting 7-6 (1), 6-3) win that gave her the ladies’ open singles crown. “It was a good performance. I


was really tired in the first set, it was a tough one. I just maintained my status and played hard in the next set,” said Krawczyk who is going back to California but is set to come back to the country in March for the International Junior Tennis Championships next year. Krawczyk, 16, bagged the top


prize of P50,000 while Patrimonio settled for P25,000. Krawczyk, who also won the title in the Phinma International two weeks ago, proved to be a force to reckoned with after convincing victories on Anna Clarice Patrimonio, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1, in the semifinals; Maica Tanpoco, 6-4, 6-4, in the quarterfi- nals; Michelle Pang, 7-5, 6-4, in the second round; and Sarah Jane Lim, 6- 0, 6-1, in the first round. Like an icing on the proverbial


cake, Krawczyk also topped the ladies’ doubles with equally- impressive Tamitha Nguyen who subdued the Patrimonio sisters— Anna Christine and Anna Clarice—6-0, 7-6 (4). In the men’s doubles, the dynamic duo of Arcilla and Patrick John Tierro—last year’s runner- up—finally took home the crown at the expense of Sieber and Ralph Kevin Barte, 6-4, 6-3.


JOSEF T. RAMOS Mosley is a tough fighter – Freddie Roach


WHILE everybody keeps saying that former welterweight champion Shane Mosley would turn out an easy fight for Filipino world’s pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao, trainer Freddie Roach said “I don’t think so.”


The four-time trainer of the year


Roach, who delivered Pacquiao (52-3-2 win-loss-draw with 38 knockouts) to boxing immortality, said he’s not buy- ing all of the talk about Mosley being an easy fight for the eighth division weight champion Pacquiao.


“I think Mosley could be a tough fight,”


Roach told boxingscence.com on Sunday. “Last year when he [Mosley] beat Antonio Margarito, everyone thought he was the great- est thing. Now after the Floyd Mayweather [Jr.] bout, they think he’s nothing.” Roach made an assurance that team


Pacquiao is not taking any fight lightly par- ticularly if Pacquiao would face the 39- year-old Mosley (46- 4- card). “Shane is a tough guy. He will train very hard for the fight and if he’s the guy we’ll be fighting, we will be ready.” The 31-year-old Pacquiao, a congress- man of Saranggani province, previously scored a vicious unanimous decision against Mexican Antonio Margarito on November 13 in Texas, USA. The two fighters, meanwhile, accord-


ing to espn.com on Sunday, were both tested clean in their recent 12-round fight by the Texas Department of Licensing and


■ Manny Pacquiao


Regulation which sought the results of their post-fight drug tests. Lawyer Daniel Petrocelli said he immediately gathered the test results to kill all rumors that have surrounded Pacquiao last year since the unfounded accusations from Mayweather and his people that Pacquiao uses perform-


ance enhancing drugs.


Margarito, for his part, was suspected of taking a banned substance with a cup of coffee in his dressing room in Cowboys Stadium. The test also disproved that he took any banned substance.


“Both fighters are tested clean for all of the more than 20 substances that Texas tests for,” said Petrocelli. JOSEF T. RAMOS


Talk ‘N Text rips Air21, claims No. 1 position


AS expected Talk ‘N Text crushed Air 21 Express, 103-89, Sunday to formally claim the top spot in the penultimate day of the elimination round of the 36th Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) All-Filipino Cup at the Araneta Coliseum. Ryan Reyes and Kelly Williams led the


Tropang Texters fiery break away in the fi- nal half to complete their elimination round assignment in a tie with San Miguel Beer at 11-3 apiece. But coach Chot Reyes team clinched the No. 1 position follow- ing a higher quotient over the Beermen. It was a sad setback for the Express as they did not only settled for the eight and last qualifying slot with a 6-8 slate, but they will be facing also the same Tropang Texters, who enjoyed a twice-to-beat incen-


tive in the quarterfinal round.


The Express started strong when they took the lead, 13-9, early in the first pe- riod, but as soon as Jimmy Alapag con- nected a triple on top of the key, the Tropang Texters began their move and gained the upperhand, 27-25. Ranidel de Ocampo and Jason Castro later joined the scoring spree that kept the Tropang Texters on top 49-43 at the end of the half. And later a 12-0 blazing run by Williams,


Harvey Carey and Aaron Aban stretched the gap to its biggest, 72-51, still 4:19 remain- ing in the third quarter. From there it was like a walk in the park for the Tropang Texters the rest of the way. The 6’6” Williams, the league’s Most Valuable Player in 2007, went on to


stopscore for the Tropang Texters with 15 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks, while Ryan Reyes and the 6’6” Carey finished with similar 13 points each. Ronjay Buenafe led the Express with 17


points, rookie Rabeh Al-Hussaini and Leo Najorda settled with 15-points apiece. The scores: Talk N’ Text 103—Williams 15, Reyes 13, Carey 13, Castro 12, Dilliger 11, Aban 11, De Ocampo 9, Peek 8, Fonacier 6, Alapag 3, Alvarez 2. Air 21 89—Buenafe 17, Al-Hussaini 15, Najorda 15, Gonzales 13, Gatumbato 12, Guevarra 6, Rodriguez 5, Baclao 2, Urbiztondo 2, Sharma 2, Arboleda 0. Quarters: 23-25, 49-43, 80-61, 103-89. FRANK CALAPRE


Buenavista, Donos top 34th Milo Marathon National Finals


NATIONAL team mainstay Eduardo Buenavista and newcomer Flordeliza Donos ruled the men’s and women’s division respectively in the National Finals of the 34th Milo Marathon Sun- day at the Quirino Grandstand. Not even the most-feared Kenyan runners could stop Buenavista from claiming his third crown as he immedi- ately took the lead from the start and went on to finish in 2:24:18, which was, however, far from his personal best of 2:18:44 he set in Oita, Japan in 2004. The 32-year-old Buenavista, aware of the presence of at least four Ken- yans, labored on a fast-paced rhythm to seize control of the premier 42.195- kilometer race as early as the first 5km en route to earning the P300,000 top purse and proved that he is still the


best marathoner in the country today. So precise was his calculation that it did not allow closest pursuers Willy Tanui and Williams Kipyego to overtake and catch up all-throughout from Luneta to The Fort in Taguig City and back to historic grandstand, cite of President Benigno Aquino 3rd proclamation. “After the burst of the firing gun, I was already ahead. But after passing through 5km, nobody seem to join me in the lead, so I decided to go through it all until the finish line,” said the Santo Niño, South Cotabato-native Buenavista, whose time was better than his 17th place finish of 2:45:07 in the 16th Asian Games in Guangzou, China last month. Tanui, a business analyst of American Life Insurance Co. from Nairobi, Kenya could only finished second with a time


of 2:29:50, while compatriots William Kipyego settled for third with a clock- ing of 2:30:19. The 2010 Cebu marathon champion


Tanui and Kipyego said that Buenavista’s speed since the start and until midway somewhere in Makati City was already fast enough for them to catch up, from which they decided to just to let him go. “We knew he is the best in your coun-


try, but we were never expecting him to pull away immediately. We just have to let him go,” said the 29-year-old Tanui, winner of the First Kahit Isang Araw half-marathon race in February at the Mall of Asia. In the absence of women’s defending titlist Cristabel Martes and PHL team mainstay Jho-An Banayag, the 23-year-old Donos took advantage and went on to outrace Kenyans Susan Jemutai and Irene


Kipchumba for the P300,000 grand prize. Banayag, the top qualifier in the


Davao City leg and 2009 champion Martes were recalled by their respective mother units in the Armed Forces of the Philippines and failed to secure permis- sion to participate.


Their absence somehow was a bless- ing in disguise for Donos, a BS crimi- nology graduate at the University of Baguio, who timed 3:05:07, which was just more than a minute ahead off 30- year-old Jemutai’s 3:07:52 and Mary Joy Tabal’s 3:08:38. Kipchumba’s time of 3:19:54 was only good for sixth behind fourth placer Monaliza Ambasa (3:09:56) and Cebu’s Mary Grace de los Santos, who posted 3:15:22 to settle for fifth place. FRANK CALAPRE


sive in his three fights this year, win- ning them all within the distance. He knocked Manuel Vargas out cold midway in the third round in a non-title 10 rounder in the same card at the Las Vegas Hilton, when Montiel scored a sensa- tional first round knockout over Morales in February.


Donaire then stopped Hernan Marquez to defend his interim World Boxing Association (WBA) world super flyweight on July 10 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.


His biggest win was a fourth-round knockout of former WBA bantam- weight champion Wladimir Sidorenko on December 4 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. Donaire’s Mexican-American trainer Robert Garcia thinks Montiel would be a very tough fight for his prized Pinoy student, but insists the Filipino star has the tools to stop the Mexican’s winning streak.


Heavy rain forces Australian PGA delay


BRISBANE, Australia: The Australian PGA Championship will extend into Monday after heavy rain stopped play midway through the final round on Sunday. Play was halted in the early


afternoon when the Coolum course became unplayable and there was not enough daylight for the golfers to complete their final rounds. Veteran Australian Peter Senior, on 12-under-par, was one shot ahead of compatriot Peter Fowler and American Bobby Gates before persistent rain flooded greens and bunkers. Officials will schedule an early


start on Monday morning for the 24 players unable to complete their final round. Gates endured two putts lipping out and a bogey from a flooded bunker cost him the lead but he said organizers were right to try to get the event finished. “I can’t fault anyone for trying to


get the tournament played, everyone’s trying their hardest but I’ve never played under these conditions before,” he said. Like several other players, including defending champion Robert Allenby who has his annual charity golf day in Melbourne on Monday, Gates is booked on a morning flight. Australian Marc Leishman (66)


was the clubhouse leader on seven-under-par. China’s No. 1 Liang Wenchong had a bogey-free morning and is the leading Asian player in the tourna- ment at seven under. He has seven holes to finish on Monday. The last time a major Austral-


ian tournament extended into Monday was at the 1987 Austral- ian Open at Royal Melbourne won by Greg Norman.


AFP


■ Eduardo Buenavista


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