MANILA, 4 January — Wind Blown won another million-peso prize to cap a year of victories in what could well be one of the best, if not the best horse, ever to grace the local track scene.
Ridden by Pat Dilema, Wind Blown ruled the Philracom Classic Open Championship before a big weekend crowd at the Sta. Ana Park.
The victory, however, was not as impressive as in the past, and the four-year-old charger by Hazm out of Wind In My Hair had to summon a second wind down the stretch to beat Batangas Entry and reaffirm his claim to racing greatness.
He finished in 2:13.5 over the 2,050-meter distance, half-a-second slower than his victory in the Presidential Gold Cup two weeks back, with Dilema obliging to give his mount heavy whips in the last 150 meters to ensure the victory that, in one stretch, had been put in doubt.
Batangas Entry, a noted sprinter forced to back off in favor of Sun City’s faster pace majority of the race, sneaked by the rail at the far turn and grabbed the lead from Wind Blown, sparking a wild roar from the gallery that had been used to seeing the massively-built galloper cruising to a string of victories virtually unchallenged.
Homegrown players are mounting "revolt" against the Philippine Lawn Tennis Association (PHILTA) over the inclusion of Fil-Am Jayjay Stewart into the Philippine Davis Cup pool that is preparing for a battle with Kazakhstan in Asia-Oceania Group 2 in Tashkent in February.
This was disclosed by Children’s Tennis Workshop head Jovy Mamawal, one of PHILTA’s most vocal critics.
Mamawal criticized PHILTA for the planned inclusion of Stewart to the national pool, saying it has caused "havoc" on the training schedule of the national pool.
Local Davis Cuppers, for their part, expressed belief Stewart does not possess any solid credential to deserve immediate entry into the pool, but expressed readiness to play him just the same in the round-robin match-ups ordered by Philta.
Mamawal, who is doing a crusade against what it calls the "bungling Philta," supported the locals’ claim, saying Stewart’s entry only gives the Filipinos "excess mental baggage that has caused disorientation and set back their training schedule."
Stewart arrived in Manila in November and Philta officials immediately put him into the Davis Cup pool, ordering a round-robin elimination tournament between the 20-year-old big-serving Fil-Am and locals Johnny Arcilla, Adelo Abadia, Michael Mora III and Joseph Victorino. Observers see this as Philta’s way of paving the way for Stewart’s entry into the squad via the short route.
The move, they said, was made worse by the Philta’s decision to by-pass other top-ranked locals as Davis Cup veteran and the country’s No. 5 Rolando Ruel and No. 6 Pio Tolentino.
Guba, Zoleta claim tennis titles
Yannick Guba of St. Benilde-Bacolod and Bambi Zoleta of Mary Hill College-Lucena scored double victories at the 2001 Milo Junior Tennis Cup and Regional Workshop at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.
Guba claimed the boys’ 18-under crown over Ian de Guzman, 6-2, 6-1 and annexed the 16-under trophy after scoring a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Jandrick de Castro of Veterans Memorial Tennis Club.
Zoleta downed Jessica Agra of Colegio de San Agustin, 6-3, 6-3, to snatch the girls’ 12-under trophy. She also captured the unisex 10-under over Gerard Ngo of Lourdes School, 6-4, 6-3.
Tracy Bautista of Emilio Aguinaldo College-Cavite was crowned girls’ 18-under champion after Bernardine Sepulveda of Sacred Heart School-Cebu retired due to upset stomach.
Earlier, Sepulveda reigned supreme in the 16-under class following a 6-2, 6-2 win over Ivy de Castro of Miriam College.
Arithmetico Lim of Chiang Kai Shek, Leyan Moncera of Olongapo City and Melissa Orteza of La Salle-Zobel were also crowned champions in this event organized by the Children’s Tennis Workshop.
Lim outplayed Hamza Macapendeg of Albert Einstein School-Cotabato City, 7-5, 6-2 to clinch the boys’ 14-under title, Moncera rallied past Christian Canlas of Ateneo de Manila, 3-6, 6-2, 6-0 for the boys’ 12-under title and Orteza won the girls’ 14-under title over Julie Em Botor of Morning Dew Montessori-Cainta, 6-4, 6-2.
Blades’ Laure named MBA’s MVP
LBC-Batangas Blades’ ace power forward Eddie Laure grabbed this year’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) award in the Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBA).
The 6-foot-3 Laure, who steered the Blades to the crown this year, consistently put up a solid performance all-year long, enough to make him the MBA press corps unanimous choice for the year’s top and most coveted individual award.
The Katipunan, Zamboanga, native beat out Fil-Ams Chris Clay and Jeffrey Flowers of Fed-Ex Laguna, and 1998 MVP John Ferriols of Negros, who all finished ahead of Laure in terms of statistical points, for the award.
Nash Racela, Laure’s youthful mentor at Batangas, shared the spotlight as he ran away with the Coach of the Year plum over rivals Robert Sison of Negros and Philip Cesar of Andok’s San Juan.
At 30, Racela was the youngest coach to steer a team to the championship in the MBA’s four-year history.
Joining Laure in the Mythical Team were teammates Romel Adducul and Alex Compton, MVP winners in 2000 and 1999, respectively, Ferriols, and San Juan’s Chito Victolero.
Negros’ Reynel Hugnatan, a homegrown hero from Talisay, Negros Occidental, was named the Most Improved Player, while TPG Davao’s local star Peter June Simon was chosen as the Discovery of the Year, and San Juan’s Omanzie Rodriguez was selected the Defensive Player of the Year.
Laure, 24, started his basketball career playing for a team that represented Region XII in the 1995 Palarong Pambansa in Pangasinan.
Go finds allies
Former Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose Sering and tennis chief Buddy Andrada said the case filed by former basketball boss Freddie Jalasco against athletics head Go Teng Kok before the POC Ethics Commission has no basis.
Jalasco, the deposed president of the Basketball Association of the Philippines who is still a member of the POC executive board, wants Go probed for his alleged connections to convicted drug dealer Yu Yuk Lai.
In a letter to Go last Dec. 19, the Ethics Committee chaired by former POC chief Ret.Gen. Rene Cruz asked Go to explain his links with Yu as requested by Jalasco.
Sering described the case as pure "harassment and a matter of politics".
"It (Jalasco’s move) does not even have the personality to report the case before Cruz," said Sering, "because Jalasco is no longer connected with any national sports association."
Being a friend of Lai, Sering said, "doesn’t in any way diminish his (Go’s) stature as president of the Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association and as a POC general assembly member.
"Mr. Go’s actions as far as Yu Yuk Lai is concerned is only part of his duties as a friend whose help was sought," said Sering in a letter to Cruz.
Sering added the POC should have commended Go instead for steering the athletics association to success in the last SEA Games where Filipino tracksters won nine gold, 10 silvers and four bronze medals.
Andrada, for his part, said the POC committed a "human rights violation" against Go because there was not any case filed against him to begin with.
"In fact, Go can easily file a case against the POC for putting his name in a bad light," Andrada explained, "and that would prove disastrous for the POC and the all the national sports associations."
