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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...