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Three lady legislators filed a senate bill in the hopes of abolishing the residency requirement for all graduating high school seniors in all collegiate leagues. The bill is seen as a move to pressure the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) to remove the two-year residency requirement they imposed on all high school student-athletes who want to transfer to other colleges or universities before the start of the 76th season. Sens. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Cynthia Villar, and Pia Cayetano filed SB No. 2226 or an act protecting the amateur nature of Filipino student-athletes where it aims to regulate the residency requirement of all student-athletes to further prevent the commercialization of the collegiate league. "No residency requirement shall be imposed on a high school student-athlete transferring to another high school or to a college or university,” stated in Section VI of the bill, which wants to require school athletic associations to impos...

Aleona Denise Santiago showed why she’s the top rookie draft pick as  she almost single-handedly carried Petron to a rousing 25-27, 25-23, 1 9-25, 24-26, 15-10 win over PLDT Home TVolution in the 2014  Philippine Super Liga All-Filipino Conference on Wednesday at the  Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City. The 20-year-old center attacker toyed with the PLDT defense to finish  with 37 points, 36 of which are kills that the Power Attackers failed  to stop at the net. "My teammates have all long faces so I reminded them to just enjoy  the game and relax. We need to work as a team for us to win,”  said Santiago in Filipino, who also had one block. “Coach [George  Pascua] told me to just remain focused and think nothing else but this  game." "Dindin [Santiago] showed why she’s the first-round draft pick. All  our offensive plays were designed for her because of her height  advantage and skills,” said Pascua after the match. The Power At...

Philippine Super Liga (PSL) organizers are planning to create a players database to give the league a bigger pool of talents thus making it easier for team owners to stock up on their respective rosters. PSL chairman Philip Ella Juico said the database will benefit both the team owners where they can tap the hidden talent in the provinces while at the same time giving the players the chance to show their talents at a higher level. Players that already graduated from member universities of the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (CESAFI), the Negros Occidental Private Schools Sports, Cultural, and Educational Association, and the Davao Private Schools Athletic Association are some of the collegiate leagues the PSL is planning to include on its database. University of the Visayas, Southwestern University, University of San Jose-Recoletos, University of San Carlos, and the University of Cebu are some of the CESAFI member squads that have volleyball programs. Sports Core...

Three past winners and the current Asian Tour Order of Merit (OOM) leader are tipped to contend for the 2014 International Container Terminal Services Inc. Philippine Open, which tees off on Thursday at the Wack Wack Golf and Country Club in Mandaluyong City. Singapore’s Mardan Mamat, the reigning titlist who ruled the 2012 edition after no tournament was held last year; 2011 titlist American Berry Henson and 2008 winner Angelo Que of the Philippines head the list along with the hot-putting Anirban Lahiri of India. Mamat, during Wednesday’s press conference of the 96th Philippine Open, said he is strolling down memory lane as he returns to Wack Wack, which will host the $300,000 Philippine Open for the 29th time, the site of his third Asian Tour victory. “I remember some [winning] putts and shots that I made back in 2012 and playing on this golf course brings back all those happy memories. You got to be patient and respect some holes here, especially the popular par-three ...

Filipino Olympic hero Anthony Villanueva died on Tuesday after a long bout with a heart ailment. He was 69. Villanueva, who was already bedridden after suffering a third stroke in 2012, died in his sleep in their home in Cabuyao town in Laguna. He became a national hero after settling for the silver medal in the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games where he lost to Stanislav Stepashkin of the then Soviet Union in the finals of the featherweight division finals. Villanueva is the son of former amateur boxer Jose, who won the Philippines a bronze medal in the bantamweight division of the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. He experienced rough times and was even forced to put his Olympic silver medal for sale just to help augment the rising cost of his medical bills. Villanueva, who also had a brief stint as a professional boxer and even tried acting in the late 1960s, has also been receiving a monthly pension of P7,000 from the Philippine Sports Commission. No one dared to bu...

If plans push through, Manila will be the first stop for Rafael Nadal and a number of the world's top tennis players. The Philippine Tennis Association (Philta) is working against the clock to come up with $8 million to finance the Philippine leg of the International Premier Tennis League (ITPL), which will bring the world’s former and current stars to Manila from November 28 to 30. Former tennis pro and ITPL organizer Mahesh Bhupathi of India said they were forced to find an alternative venue for the indoor tennis tournament due to the ongoing political tension in Thailand after their Constitutional Court removed Prime Minister Yinluck Shinawatra from her office. "We had to divert from the original franchise owner in Bangkok as the political unrest forced us to look for an alternative city to ensure the safety of all stakeholders," Bhupathi said in an interview with the International Business Times. Philta vice president Randy Villanueva said that they a...

Collegiate volleyball star Abigail Marano is ready to take on the challenge of her new role with the AirAsia Flying Spikers in the upcoming All-Filipino Conference of the Philippine Super Liga (PSL), which opens on Friday at the Cuneta Astrodome. The Flying Spikers will take on the Cagayan Valley Lady Rising Suns in the second game after the men’s division match between the Cignal HD Spikers and Systema Active Smashers. Organizing Sports Core will be offering the opening games, which will be aired by Solar Sports, free admission to the public as their way of thanking the fans. Marano, chosen second by AirAsia after Petron’s top pick Aleona Denise Santiago during last month’s PSL inaugural rookie draft, said she will still be the same player that helped De La Salle University win three straight University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) women’s title. The two-time UAAP most valuable player (MVP) said she’s not that pressured after some have tagged her as the ...

The country’s campaign to boost the morale of the Asian Games-bound Philippine Team officially started Sunday with the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) and the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) organizing the Walk-A-Mile project. The 2014 Asian Games are set from September 19 to October 4 in Incheon, South Korea. One hundred and 33 Filipino athletes have so far passed the criteria set by the joint POC-PSC Task Force. Close to 500 participants joined POC and PSC officials, athletes, and coaches during the 1.6-mile walk—which is an awareness campaign to drumbeat support for Team Philippines—from Roxas Boulevard-Malate area to Luneta Park’s kilometer zero marker. Iran ’s Vahid Kardany, who represented Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) president Sheikh Ahmad Fahad Al-Sabah of Kuwait, and Incheon Asian Games Organizing Committee (IAGOC) media director Son Sangjin also graced the occasion. POC president Jose Cojuangco Jr. said seeing the people who joined the Walk-A-Mile, s...

Cordillera Autonomous Region (CAR) bet Henry Foy-os is now being recruited by the Wrestling Association of the Philippines (WAP) as a potential candidate for the national training pool. Foy-os, the younger brother of national team mainstay and 2013 Philippine National Games 55-kilogram gold medalist Minalyn, was among the wrestlers that stood out when wrestling made its debut in the recently concluded 2014 Palarong Pambansa in Sta. Cruz, Laguna. Foy-os is a fresh high school graduate making him ineligible for the 2015 Palaro, with the host province set to be named in October this year. His gold in Greco-Roman’s 54-kg.division is part of CAR’s nine-medal haul—three gold, two silvers, and four bronzes. CAR and Region XI (Davao) emerged as the top teams in wrestling with the latter collecting three gold medals all in the girls’ division to go with three silvers and one bronze. David Caoli (boy’s 50kg.) and Jefferson Ignas (boys’ 42 kg.) were CAR’s other gold medalists in ...

Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Chairman Ricardo Garcia is challenging athletes that will make it on the official delegation to surpass the country’s 16-medal haul in the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games in China. Filipino athletes collected three gold, four silver, and nine bronze medals during the November 12 to 27 16th Asiad to finish 19th overall in the Asian region’s quadrennial sporting event. “I am calling those who have already made it to the country’s official delegation to the Asian Games and to those still aspiring, to train seriously so we can improve and surpass the three gold medals that the Philippines won in 2010,” said Garcia, who is also the country’s Chef de Mission to the 2014 Asiad. The 17th edition of the Asian Games is set from September 19 to October 4 in Incheon, South Korea. One hundred and 42 athletes, from 19 sports, have already passed the criteria set by the joint Philippine Olympic Committee (POC)-PSC Asian Games Task Force including the tea...

From Ernest John Obiena's Facebook page .  Filipino junior pole vault champion Ernest John Obiena is currently honing his skills in Italy under the supervision of veteran coach Vitaly Opanasovich Petrov of Ukraine, who helped train three world champions including multiple world record holder Sergey Bubka. The 18-year-old Obiena left with his father, coach, and former Philippine pole vault champion Emerson last week to train with Petrov, 76, at the International Association of Athletics Federation’s (IAAF) World Pole Vault Center in Formia in Italy. The Ateneo sophomore earned the chance to train under Petrov through Bubka after the six-time world champion and IAAF vice president promised to help him if he clears the five-meter mark in any competition. Obiena, who finished fourth in the 2013 Myanmar Southeast Asian Games, achieved the feat during the 21st Taiwan Nantou Indoor International Pole Vault Championship in Nantou, Chinese Taipei last month where he broke t...

alaboxing.com Donnie Nietes is confident that this time he will knock out Mexican Moises Fuentes when he makes his fourth title defense of the World Boxing Organization (WBO) light flyweight crown on May 10 at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City. This will also be a rematch of their March 2, 2013 12-round bout at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino in Cebu City that ended in a majority draw after two of the three judges—Adalaide Byrd and Pat Russell—saw the fight tied at 114 while Danrex Tapdasan scored it in favor of Nietes, 115-113. The 31-year-old slugger from Murcia, Negros Occidental (32-1-4, with 18 knockouts) said that he has been looking forward to this fight where he hopes to silence the Mexico City-born Fuentes (19-1-1, with 10 knockouts) in front of his countrymen. Nietes said that his almost four-month-long training camp, including two months in the United States, will finally pay off. “Malaki ang tiwala ko sa sarili na mapapatumba ko na siya [Fuentes...

Filipino bet Sofia Isabel Guidote and Aneeta Lingam of Malaysia know they have much to learn before achieving their dreams of competing at a higher level in figure skating after competing in the International Skating Union (ISU) World Development Trophy (WDT) 2014 last week in Mandaluyong City. Both young skaters also attended the five-day training camp that was held before the one-day tournament, which was conducted by international coach Shanetta Folle of Austria, who previously coached Japan’s Mao Asada to a silver medal in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. “It was fun and I met new friends. I saw that I can work harder and learned that I have more aspects to improve so that I can become better in my sport,” said Guidote, who was thankful for Folle's tips. Guidote and Elia Mariel Mendoza gave the Philippines silver (Basic Novice A girls’ free skate program) and bronze (Basic Novice B Girls) medals in the country’s final hosting of the World Development Trophy. T...

The Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) and Philippine Sports  Commission (PSC) will be holding the Walk A Mile event on May 11 as  a way to drum up support for Filipino athletes that will be competing  in the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea. PSC Chairman Ricardo Garcia said the activity will also be held  simultaneously in other member countries of the Olympic Council of  Asia (OCA) to create awareness of the Asian region’s  quadrennial sporting event set from September 19 to October 4. “We want to help [the Incheon Asian Games Organizing Committee  (IAGOC)] create awareness on the staging of the 17th Asian Games in  Korea and also to generate support to all our national athletes that  will compete in the Asiad,” said Garcia, who is also the country’s  Chef de Mission. “This event will also inform our countrymen to support our serious  campaign to win at least six gold medals.” Four OCA officials and three IAGOC memb...

Some 150 Muslim and Christian kids from conflict areas in Mindanao and Palawan were given the chance to learn the basic skills of football during the 3rd Philippine Marine Corps (PMC) Football For Peace held over the weekend at the Army and Navy Football pitch in Fort Bonifacion in Taguig City. The kids came from the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) provinces of Sultan Kudarat, Cotabato, Misamis Oriental, Sulu, Zamboanga and TawiTawi, and Palawan. Philippine Marines Commandant Maj. Gen. Romeo Tanalgo said the annual event aims to give children from conflict areas to learn, experience, and enjoy playing football in a safe and peaceful environment. “We want to provide them the opportunity to play in Manila. In teaching football to these kids, maybe they will get the chance to also have an education in Manila. We really want to have the kids live a peaceful life and play in a safe community. It is up to us to help and give them support,” Tanalgo a dded. Tanalgo...

Marian Jade Capadocia continues to make waves in the local tennis circuit as the 18-year-old netter won two titles in the recently concluded 6th Gov. Anacleto C. Alcala Memorial Cup National Tennis Open at the Lucena Tennis Courts in Lucena City, Quezon province. Capadocia ruled the singles event and then teamed up with Anna Clarice Patrimonio to add the doubles crown. Capadocia, who drew a bye in the first round, made short work of Kaye Alcala with a 6-0, 6-0 thrashing then downed Hannah Espinosa, 6-1, 6-2, in the quarterfinals. She then tripped perennial rival Maika Tanpoco in the semifinals, 6-1, 6-2. The San Jose, Antique-born netter met doubles partner Patrimonio in the women’s singles finals where she scored a 6-1, 7-6 (3) win. It was Capadocia’s third finals win over Patrimonio after beating the latter twice in the Philippine Columbian Association Open tennis championship in 2011 and 2013. She leads their head-to-head match-up, 4-1. She completed her title s...