5. World Cup bronze, Asiad gold for Biboy
Back in the world bowling map.
That’s where the Philippines found itself with Engelberto “Biboy” Rivera completing a phenomenal run both in the World Cup and the Asian Games.
Rivera finished a hard-fighting third in the 46th Qubica-AMF Bowling World Cup in Toulon, France, before gifting the Philippines with its first gold medal in the Guangzhou Asian Games in China.
That October run in France—where he emerged as the tournament’s top Asian finisher—made Rivera a natural favorite the following month in the 16th Games.
And the national kegler did not disappoint, burning the lanes for a 1414 series in men’s singles to deliver the country’s first gold medal in the regional meet.
It was both euphoria and relief for Rivera, who had to endure a five-hour wait to see if his score would hold up after wrapping up his performance hours earlier or before the big names played in the second block.
“I didn’t want to watch the second block because all the top contenders were there,” Rivera recalled. “I didn’t want to expect my score to hold up because it would only hurt more if I lost.”
Coach Jojo Cañare was the first to inform Rivera that he plucked a gold four years after the country’s bowling shutout in Doha, Qatar.
Redemption
“After our zero performance in the Doha Games, this really felt good,” said Rivera, the 2006 World Masters champion.
“I thought it was all a joke until I saw the tears in [Cañare’s] eyes.”
The 36-year-old Rivera had looked strong enough to go all the way in the World Cup.
But he ran into eventual champion Michael Schmidt of Canada, who averaged 249.5 to the Filipino veteran’s 236.5 in the best-of-three semifinals.
“I learned a lot of things that I need to improve on,” said Rivera.
Indeed, Rivera improved well enough to strike gold. Jasmine W. Payo
4. Four fighters who made us proud, too
The year went well, too, for the country’s “other boxing heroes.”
Nonito Donaire Jr., whose meek, soft-spoken ways belie the fury of his fists, was the most impressive among four Manny Pacquiao heir-apparent when he stopped Ukrainian Volodymir Sydorenko in the fourth round in their bantamweight bout in Anaheim, California last Dec. 4.
Donaire scored his 24th straight victory and ninth KO win in his last 11 fights. And he claimed the signal honor of stopping the Ukrainian for the first time in his career.
Donaire, already one of the world’s toughest fighters pound-for-pound, will be seeking to dethrone Fernando Montiel for the Mexican’s bantamweight WBC and WBO belts on Feb. 19 in Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
That fight will be the biggest in the career of Donaire with HBO set to carry the event. Montiel is 43-2-2 with 33 knockouts.
Donaire, nicknamed the “Filipino Flash,” has never lost a fight in nine years and owns a 25-1-0 record with 17 stoppages.
Also ending the year on a positive note was Brian Viloria, who stopped the rugged but uncoordinated Thai Liempetch Sor Veerapol in the seventh round of their flyweight bout last Nov. 5 here.
Viloria, 30, who married longtime sweetheart Erika Navarro last Dec. 3, could face Mexican Julio Cezar Miranda either in March or April next year here.
Donnie Nietes and Drian Francisco also created a stir.
Nietes successfully defended his WBO minimumweight title for the fourth time last August when he beat Mexican Mario Rodriguez by unanimous decision in Sinaloa, Mexico.
Last Nov. 30, Francisco kayoed Duangpetch Kokietgym right in front of the Thai’s countrymen for the WBA interim super flyweight title. Francisco also defeated Ricardo Nuñez last April via a 5th round KO. Marc Anthony Reyes
3. Azkals boost PH football
Thanks to a hardy bunch of players from different parts of the world collectively known as the Azkals, and a visionary who got them all together, the beautiful game is relevant again in the Philippines.
In a result that stunned the football world and created quite a stir in the Philippines, the Azkals upset 2008 champion Vietnam, 2-0, in the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup before 40,000 fans at the My Dinh Stadium in Hanoi.
There was a portent of things to come three days before the upset.
Battle-weary and given little chance because of Singapore’s pedigree, the Azkals defended like their lives depended on the game and held the Singaporeans to a single goal in the first 93 minutes, before Chris Greatwich, who was called up just a few days before the tournament, salvaged the draw with a dramatic late strike.
It was the latest in some of the last-gasp heroics by the Azkals, who had battled to salvage draws in games against Laos, 2-2, in the qualifying tournament in Vietnam and Chinese-Taipei, 1-1, in Taiwan.
“The one thing good about this team is its never-say-die attitude,” said team manager Dan Palami, credited as the man behind the team’s success. “They just embody the Filipino spirit.”
The Azkals made the semifinals for the first time with a draw against Myanmar in their last group match and returned home as heroes.
Their exploits also put to light the problems plaguing the sport.
In November, the Philippine Football Federation Congress removed Jose Mari Martinez due to alleged corruption, falsification of public documents and failure to return funds from the federation’s coffers.
Martinez’s removal and the election of Mariano “Nonong” Araneta were later upheld by the International Football Federation (Fifa). Martinez is still fighting the decision.
The Azkals also slammed Martinez for his lack of support to their campaigns.
The Azkals’ magical run, however, ended in Jakarta a week later on Dec. 19.
Playing with a handicap after its “home” match was staged in Jakarta for lack of a suitable venue in the country, the Azkals lost 2-nil on aggregate to the Indonesians, who were buoyed by two goals from Uruguayan-born striker Cristian Gonzales.
Defeat hardly put a dent on the team’s morale.
“We lost the battle but we earned a lot of respect from other teams,” said Palami. Cedelf P. Tupas
2. Guangzhou Asian Games: Pride, hope
The country wore two faces in the Asian Games.
The first one was the look of the warrior, the one that flew to Guangzhou with every intention of conquering the opposition. This was the Filipino athlete who, disadvantaged by inferior financial support, international honing and training technology, fought purely on heart and pride to bring glory to the country.
And then there was the mask of the wide-eyed youth. In Guangzhou, they were generally overwhelmed by the competition—some awed by the event itself—but fought on the knowledge that defeat was merely a learning experience. One step backward, two steps forward.
Of the warriors who came to fight for gold, Rey Saludar was the most celebrated, not merely for the medal and the windfall his feat achieved but for the promise his fists laid out for a country long yearning to quench an Olympic thirst.
The power punching machine took control in the third round and held off a frenetic, last-gasp effort by hometown bet Chang Yong to win the gold medal in the men’s 52 kg finals at the Foshan Gymnasium.
“I’m happy that I was able to bring home a gold for the country,” said Saludar, who took home a total of P4 million in bonuses from the government and from Smart Telecommunications for his feat.
It was the opposite for Biboy Rivera, who was a bundle of nervous energy hours after finishing his stint in the men’s singles final of bowling.
Dennis Orcollo, on the other hand, only waited for the semifinals to finish before saving the country’s billiards team from the utter humiliation of a gold medal shutout. Regarded as the center of the billiards universe, the Philippines watched its highly touted pool squad get stripped of its biggest names before Orcollo and Warren Kiamco forged an all-Filipino final for the centerpiece 9-ball singles event.
“It didn’t matter anymore who won,” Orcollo said in Filipino. “The country got a gold and a silver and Warren and I are very happy with our achievement.”
There were the warriors who came close to victory. The ever-smiling Annie Albania, who broke down at the podium upon realizing that she wouldn’t get to hear her national anthem played, settled for the Asian Games’ first silver medal in women’s boxing, the one that shone like gold. Tshomlee Go and Japoy Lizardo, who settled for bronze medals in taekwondo, were a sudden-death kick from the finals, where they would have faced opponents they were capable of beating.
And who could forget the chess team, which zoomed to the finals on a pair of scintillating victories over powerhouse India before finally getting stopped dead on its tracks by the host Chinese? Also, Miguel Tabuena’s stand in men’s individual golf, where the home-schooled 16-year-old carved out the country’s best finish in that competition since Ramon Brobio’s gold in 1986, was equally noteworthy.
“He is the story of the tournament,” beamed coach Tommy Manotoc.
These warriors helped the Philippines to a three-gold, four-silver and nine-bronze haul in the Asiad.
Among the youngsters who were wiped out in the Asiad were the teenagers who formed part of the Tac Padilla-led shooting team.
“I think for all of us, we really didn’t do too good,” said 15-year-old Jayson Valdez, now the Philippine record holder for rifle.
That was generally the first thing that crossed the minds of those who were quick to pass judgment on the youth brigade. But PH chief of mission Joey Romasanta sees the victory in those defeats. And silver linings, too.
“The experience we gave our young athletes here is worth the slots we gave them,” Romasanta said. “Some of these young athletes were coming to me, saying sorry. I told them, you’re young, learn from this.”
Playing side by side with Asia’s best alone will lift the young athletes when they get home. Romasanta believes that watching their opponents perform live alone gives these young athletes a look at what it takes to rise to the top.
“When they get home, they’ll raise the level of their training immediately,” he said.
And they won’t be as overwhelmed by the event anymore.
And as the curtains fell on the Asian games, Romasanta said regardless of what face the Filipino athlete wore—the conquering warrior or the learning young turk—the PH delegation flew out of China with its head held high. Francis T.J. Ochoa
1. One and only Pacquiao
By his standards, 2010 wasn’t exactly a slam-bang year.
Manny Pacquiao fought two fights where the challenge lay mostly on how promoters would sell it. He dominated two bigger opponents whose only mission, it was apparent, was to make it to the final bell upright.
Heck, the world’s pound-for-pound icon even had to usher his second foe to the finish with a display of unbridled sportsmanship.
There was no flamboyant knockout like the one he scored against Ricky Hatton in two rounds. There were no clinical savage beatings that ended in stoppages—although God knows Antonio Margarito should have been spared of the extra punishment he received by the referee or his corner—like the one the Pacman put in full display against Oscar De La Hoya and Miguel Cotto.
There wasn’t a close shave, like the competitive nature of his bouts against Juan Manuel Marquez.
But these are by Pacquiao’s standards.
The concurrent Sarangani representative in Congress has set the bar so high right now, that anything less than a match against undefeated American trash-talker Floyd Mayweather Jr. would reside in the same time zone as boredom.
“I want that fight,” Pacquiao has said of the hanging megabout. “The world wants that fight. But it’s up to him.”
The brutal destruction of the game Margarito was sold as an attempt to write history by being the first boxer to win eight crowns in eight different weight classes.
In between both bouts was Pacquiao’s congressional victory.
After a defeat at the polls in 2007, Pacquiao played his cards right this time, transferring his residence to wife Jinkee’s hometown of Sarangani and eventually winning a mandate from the constituents there.
“I already am a boxing champion and this time, I want to be a champion in public service,” said Pacquiao.
Pacquiao capped 2010 with another lavish birthday party, his 32nd, and gave away a car and P1 million as raffle prizes.
And just before the calendar turned a new leaf, he announced his next project on the ring: A fight with Shane Mosley.
It still isn’t Money Mayweather and Top Rank and Bob Arum will scramble trying to sell a plot for the fight audience to feast on in the hopes of churning lucrative attendance and pay-per-view receipts.
But knowing Pacquiao, he’ll find a way to make that bout memorable and possibly make it again this year’s top story.
That October run in France—where he emerged as the tournament’s top Asian finisher—made Rivera a natural favorite the following month in the 16th Games.
And the national kegler did not disappoint, burning the lanes for a 1414 series in men’s singles to deliver the country’s first gold medal in the regional meet.
It was both euphoria and relief for Rivera, who had to endure a five-hour wait to see if his score would hold up after wrapping up his performance hours earlier or before the big names played in the second block.
“I didn’t want to watch the second block because all the top contenders were there,” Rivera recalled. “I didn’t want to expect my score to hold up because it would only hurt more if I lost.”
Coach Jojo Cañare was the first to inform Rivera that he plucked a gold four years after the country’s bowling shutout in Doha, Qatar.
Redemption
“After our zero performance in the Doha Games, this really felt good,” said Rivera, the 2006 World Masters champion.
“I thought it was all a joke until I saw the tears in [Cañare’s] eyes.”
The 36-year-old Rivera had looked strong enough to go all the way in the World Cup.
But he ran into eventual champion Michael Schmidt of Canada, who averaged 249.5 to the Filipino veteran’s 236.5 in the best-of-three semifinals.
“I learned a lot of things that I need to improve on,” said Rivera.
Indeed, Rivera improved well enough to strike gold. Jasmine W. Payo
4. Four fighters who made us proud, too
The year went well, too, for the country’s “other boxing heroes.”
Nonito Donaire Jr., whose meek, soft-spoken ways belie the fury of his fists, was the most impressive among four Manny Pacquiao heir-apparent when he stopped Ukrainian Volodymir Sydorenko in the fourth round in their bantamweight bout in Anaheim, California last Dec. 4.
Donaire scored his 24th straight victory and ninth KO win in his last 11 fights. And he claimed the signal honor of stopping the Ukrainian for the first time in his career.
Donaire, already one of the world’s toughest fighters pound-for-pound, will be seeking to dethrone Fernando Montiel for the Mexican’s bantamweight WBC and WBO belts on Feb. 19 in Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
That fight will be the biggest in the career of Donaire with HBO set to carry the event. Montiel is 43-2-2 with 33 knockouts.
Donaire, nicknamed the “Filipino Flash,” has never lost a fight in nine years and owns a 25-1-0 record with 17 stoppages.
Also ending the year on a positive note was Brian Viloria, who stopped the rugged but uncoordinated Thai Liempetch Sor Veerapol in the seventh round of their flyweight bout last Nov. 5 here.
Viloria, 30, who married longtime sweetheart Erika Navarro last Dec. 3, could face Mexican Julio Cezar Miranda either in March or April next year here.
Donnie Nietes and Drian Francisco also created a stir.
Nietes successfully defended his WBO minimumweight title for the fourth time last August when he beat Mexican Mario Rodriguez by unanimous decision in Sinaloa, Mexico.
Last Nov. 30, Francisco kayoed Duangpetch Kokietgym right in front of the Thai’s countrymen for the WBA interim super flyweight title. Francisco also defeated Ricardo Nuñez last April via a 5th round KO. Marc Anthony Reyes
3. Azkals boost PH football
Thanks to a hardy bunch of players from different parts of the world collectively known as the Azkals, and a visionary who got them all together, the beautiful game is relevant again in the Philippines.
In a result that stunned the football world and created quite a stir in the Philippines, the Azkals upset 2008 champion Vietnam, 2-0, in the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup before 40,000 fans at the My Dinh Stadium in Hanoi.
There was a portent of things to come three days before the upset.
Battle-weary and given little chance because of Singapore’s pedigree, the Azkals defended like their lives depended on the game and held the Singaporeans to a single goal in the first 93 minutes, before Chris Greatwich, who was called up just a few days before the tournament, salvaged the draw with a dramatic late strike.
It was the latest in some of the last-gasp heroics by the Azkals, who had battled to salvage draws in games against Laos, 2-2, in the qualifying tournament in Vietnam and Chinese-Taipei, 1-1, in Taiwan.
“The one thing good about this team is its never-say-die attitude,” said team manager Dan Palami, credited as the man behind the team’s success. “They just embody the Filipino spirit.”
The Azkals made the semifinals for the first time with a draw against Myanmar in their last group match and returned home as heroes.
Their exploits also put to light the problems plaguing the sport.
In November, the Philippine Football Federation Congress removed Jose Mari Martinez due to alleged corruption, falsification of public documents and failure to return funds from the federation’s coffers.
Martinez’s removal and the election of Mariano “Nonong” Araneta were later upheld by the International Football Federation (Fifa). Martinez is still fighting the decision.
The Azkals also slammed Martinez for his lack of support to their campaigns.
The Azkals’ magical run, however, ended in Jakarta a week later on Dec. 19.
Playing with a handicap after its “home” match was staged in Jakarta for lack of a suitable venue in the country, the Azkals lost 2-nil on aggregate to the Indonesians, who were buoyed by two goals from Uruguayan-born striker Cristian Gonzales.
Defeat hardly put a dent on the team’s morale.
“We lost the battle but we earned a lot of respect from other teams,” said Palami. Cedelf P. Tupas
2. Guangzhou Asian Games: Pride, hope
The country wore two faces in the Asian Games.
The first one was the look of the warrior, the one that flew to Guangzhou with every intention of conquering the opposition. This was the Filipino athlete who, disadvantaged by inferior financial support, international honing and training technology, fought purely on heart and pride to bring glory to the country.
And then there was the mask of the wide-eyed youth. In Guangzhou, they were generally overwhelmed by the competition—some awed by the event itself—but fought on the knowledge that defeat was merely a learning experience. One step backward, two steps forward.
Of the warriors who came to fight for gold, Rey Saludar was the most celebrated, not merely for the medal and the windfall his feat achieved but for the promise his fists laid out for a country long yearning to quench an Olympic thirst.
The power punching machine took control in the third round and held off a frenetic, last-gasp effort by hometown bet Chang Yong to win the gold medal in the men’s 52 kg finals at the Foshan Gymnasium.
“I’m happy that I was able to bring home a gold for the country,” said Saludar, who took home a total of P4 million in bonuses from the government and from Smart Telecommunications for his feat.
It was the opposite for Biboy Rivera, who was a bundle of nervous energy hours after finishing his stint in the men’s singles final of bowling.
Dennis Orcollo, on the other hand, only waited for the semifinals to finish before saving the country’s billiards team from the utter humiliation of a gold medal shutout. Regarded as the center of the billiards universe, the Philippines watched its highly touted pool squad get stripped of its biggest names before Orcollo and Warren Kiamco forged an all-Filipino final for the centerpiece 9-ball singles event.
“It didn’t matter anymore who won,” Orcollo said in Filipino. “The country got a gold and a silver and Warren and I are very happy with our achievement.”
There were the warriors who came close to victory. The ever-smiling Annie Albania, who broke down at the podium upon realizing that she wouldn’t get to hear her national anthem played, settled for the Asian Games’ first silver medal in women’s boxing, the one that shone like gold. Tshomlee Go and Japoy Lizardo, who settled for bronze medals in taekwondo, were a sudden-death kick from the finals, where they would have faced opponents they were capable of beating.
And who could forget the chess team, which zoomed to the finals on a pair of scintillating victories over powerhouse India before finally getting stopped dead on its tracks by the host Chinese? Also, Miguel Tabuena’s stand in men’s individual golf, where the home-schooled 16-year-old carved out the country’s best finish in that competition since Ramon Brobio’s gold in 1986, was equally noteworthy.
“He is the story of the tournament,” beamed coach Tommy Manotoc.
These warriors helped the Philippines to a three-gold, four-silver and nine-bronze haul in the Asiad.
Among the youngsters who were wiped out in the Asiad were the teenagers who formed part of the Tac Padilla-led shooting team.
“I think for all of us, we really didn’t do too good,” said 15-year-old Jayson Valdez, now the Philippine record holder for rifle.
That was generally the first thing that crossed the minds of those who were quick to pass judgment on the youth brigade. But PH chief of mission Joey Romasanta sees the victory in those defeats. And silver linings, too.
“The experience we gave our young athletes here is worth the slots we gave them,” Romasanta said. “Some of these young athletes were coming to me, saying sorry. I told them, you’re young, learn from this.”
Playing side by side with Asia’s best alone will lift the young athletes when they get home. Romasanta believes that watching their opponents perform live alone gives these young athletes a look at what it takes to rise to the top.
“When they get home, they’ll raise the level of their training immediately,” he said.
And they won’t be as overwhelmed by the event anymore.
And as the curtains fell on the Asian games, Romasanta said regardless of what face the Filipino athlete wore—the conquering warrior or the learning young turk—the PH delegation flew out of China with its head held high. Francis T.J. Ochoa
1. One and only Pacquiao
By his standards, 2010 wasn’t exactly a slam-bang year.
Manny Pacquiao fought two fights where the challenge lay mostly on how promoters would sell it. He dominated two bigger opponents whose only mission, it was apparent, was to make it to the final bell upright.
Heck, the world’s pound-for-pound icon even had to usher his second foe to the finish with a display of unbridled sportsmanship.
There was no flamboyant knockout like the one he scored against Ricky Hatton in two rounds. There were no clinical savage beatings that ended in stoppages—although God knows Antonio Margarito should have been spared of the extra punishment he received by the referee or his corner—like the one the Pacman put in full display against Oscar De La Hoya and Miguel Cotto.
There wasn’t a close shave, like the competitive nature of his bouts against Juan Manuel Marquez.
But these are by Pacquiao’s standards.
The concurrent Sarangani representative in Congress has set the bar so high right now, that anything less than a match against undefeated American trash-talker Floyd Mayweather Jr. would reside in the same time zone as boredom.
“I want that fight,” Pacquiao has said of the hanging megabout. “The world wants that fight. But it’s up to him.”
The brutal destruction of the game Margarito was sold as an attempt to write history by being the first boxer to win eight crowns in eight different weight classes.
In between both bouts was Pacquiao’s congressional victory.
After a defeat at the polls in 2007, Pacquiao played his cards right this time, transferring his residence to wife Jinkee’s hometown of Sarangani and eventually winning a mandate from the constituents there.
“I already am a boxing champion and this time, I want to be a champion in public service,” said Pacquiao.
Pacquiao capped 2010 with another lavish birthday party, his 32nd, and gave away a car and P1 million as raffle prizes.
And just before the calendar turned a new leaf, he announced his next project on the ring: A fight with Shane Mosley.
It still isn’t Money Mayweather and Top Rank and Bob Arum will scramble trying to sell a plot for the fight audience to feast on in the hopes of churning lucrative attendance and pay-per-view receipts.
But knowing Pacquiao, he’ll find a way to make that bout memorable and possibly make it again this year’s top story.
