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32nd Jones Cup final rankings

Benjie — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 10:34:47 +0000

32nd Jones Cup final rankings

Date: July 14-20, 2010

Host: Chinese-Taipei

Rank Team

1 I.R. Iran National Team

2 Lebanon National Team

3 Japan National Team

4 Philippines National Team

5 Chinese-Taipei National Team

6 Chinese-Taipei University All-Stars

7 Townsville Crocodiles (Australia)

Going Down Under

Benjie — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 15:04:20 +0000

I understand that almost every Filipino by this time is too preoccupied with tomorrow’s ‘The Event’. We sometimes tend to overlook some other major sports events. Take the Aussie trip of the Smart Gilas, for instance. I was aware that they’re scheduled to leave Manila by March 12 as they embarked their second ‘road’ trip to hone their skills as a team. Thanks to Chris Tiu for the tweet as they have officially stepped down the land they call ‘Down Under’.

Australia’s basketball may not be as big as in the United States or in the Philippines. Cricket, Rugby, Australian Football, Horse racing are far more popular in terms of crowd attendance. However, there’s one thing that caught the attention of coach Rajko Toroman in the Aussies – zone defense.

I remember back in 2004 Athens Olympics, Australia played against the United States in the preliminaries. The Americans had a hard time breaking the zone of the Aussies. Though the former won in that game, it was a close match that pushed the Americans to the brink. Note that Team USA was made up of NBA stars including Tim Duncan, LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony. The Americans ended up third in that tournament though.

The Australia trip of the Gilas is the second of the series of international exposures as a run up to the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China beginning November 12. Scheduled to follow this tour is a series of exhibition games in Serbia, United States and possibly against the Canadian national team in April.

Star Snippets: Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather, Jr., Tiger Woods …..

Benjie — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 04:44:58 +0000

Philippine boxing sensation Manny Pacquiao is among the nominees for the US Sports Academy’s Athlete of the Year for 2009. The selection runs until Christmas eve. Other nominees for men’s award are sports icons Tiger Woods, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. The list also includes those who have excelled in their respective sports disciplines such as Craig Alexander of Australia for triathlon, Usain Bolt of Jamaica for Track and Field, Jimmie Johnson of the US for Auto racing, Albert Pujols of the Dominican Republic for baseball and Roger Federer of Switzerland for tennis.

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Unconfirmed reports circulating that Floyd Mayweather. Jr. is preparing for a ‘tune-up’ fight scheduled early next year in England against a tough opponent in Ricky Hatton’s brother Matthew. The world may have to wait a little longer for a much anticipated fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, jr. as the latter is rumored to take on Hatton first in preparation for his showdown with Manny Pacquiao. This came after Jeff Mayweather, Floyd’s uncle made comments on media last weekend making hints that Floyd Jr. has begun to train under his uncle/trainer Roger Mayweather secretly for a match in England most likely against Matthew Hatton.

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Golf Superstar Tiger Woods confirmed that he will not join the tournament to benefit his charity foundation as he is still recovering from minor injuries he sustained last Friday. He will miss the Chevron World Challenge that is scheduled to begin on December 5. Woods figured in an accident last weekend while driving near his home in Florida. Earlier reports indicated Woods suffered facial cuts and bruises.

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Seo Jang-Hoon of the ET Land Elephants became the first player in the Korean Basketball League (KBL) to reach the 11,000-point mark after leading his team to a win against the SK Knights. The 35-year old 6-foot-8 Center who joined the KBL in 1998-99 season scored 16 points in that game to secure a place in history for the South Korean professional league.

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Atsushi Fujimoto recently joined with the Yakult Swallows in the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). The 32-year old middle infielder agreed to a 2-year contract with the team worth Y100 million. Fujimoto became a free agent after last season and expressed his disappointment with his former team Hanshin Tigers because of limited playing time.

Star Snippets: Cadel Evans, David Haye and more

Benjie — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 02:11:36 +0000

Photo Courtesy: Blogs.theage.com.au

Australia’s Cadel Evans expects a showdown with American Lance Armstrong after the former announced his comeback on Thursday, November 5 to the Tour Down Under slated early next year in Australia.

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British David Haye will challenge the 7- footer Nikolai Valuev of Russia for the WBA World Heavyweight title on Saturday, November 7 in Bayern, Germany.

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Sergio Martinez will replace Kelly Pavlik in a bout against Paul Williams on December 5. Pavlik withdrew from the bout earlier due to infection in his hand.

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Spanish Forward Pao Gasol of the Los Angeles Lakers is set to resume practicing with the team. Gasol has not yet played a single game for the Lakers this season due to strained right hamstring injury.

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Argentine Andres Nocioni of the Sacramento Kings was arrested last Thursday, November 5 on suspicion of drunk driving in Sacramento, California. Nocioni was released later in the day and issued public apology.

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Unconfirmed reports circulating stated that Pido Jarencio and Manny Dandan coaching stints with their respective teams in the Universities Athletic Association of the Phillippines (UAAP) came to an end. Both UST Growling Tigers and NU Bulldogs reportedly did not renew their respective contracts.