MANILA, 11 January — An amputee, whose tale of guts and valor earned him a special place in the world of the disabled, will join the honor roll of sports greats who will be feted by the country’s oldest news organization during the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Annual Awards Jan. 11 at the Holiday Inn.
Arnold Balais, 32, took Southeast Asia by storm by winning the gold in the 200m freestyle in a new Far East and South Pacific Games record of 2:45.06 and bronze medals in five other swimming events in the first ASEAN Para Games held Oct. 23-30 in Malaysia.
These feats earned him the PSA citation as the Most Outstanding Athlete with disability, becoming the second athlete from the Philippine Sports Association for the Differently Abled (Philspada) to be honored by the 52-year-old organization.
Balais will plane in from Cebu City, courtesy of Philspada under its President Mike Barredo, to receive the award along with 30 gold medalists from the Kuala Lumpur Southeast Asian Games and other sports heroes in the Asian and local circuit.
World billiards champion Efren "Bata" Reyes and Fil-American golfer Dorothy Joy Delasin, who was chosen this year as one of the Ten Oustanding Young Men (TOYM) awardees, are the co-Athletes of the Year.
Champions in motorsports will be honored this year for their achievements in various categories.
The PSA will give long-overdue recognition to 13-year-old Kenneth San Andres, who won the motocross in age group categories during the last six years, and Jojo Silverio, who ruled the Asian Formula 3 Series in the Zhuzhai, China.
Andrada tennis allies lose
Eleven regional vice presidential candidates belonging to a group campaigning for reforms in Philippine tennis won via landslide, beating old-timers and "allies" identified with Philippine Tennis Association (PHILTA) president Buddy Andrada.
The development is seen as changing of the guards for local tennis which has been in the doldrums the past years. It also deted Andrada’s bid to seek re-election next year.
But Andrada maintained that he’s not threatened with the results and said that ìpersonalities don’t matter as long as those who won are for Philippine tennis."
According to Philta constitution, the RVPs will elect the Philta president on January next year. Andrada’s term ends on Dec. 31.
Andrada, who has been the Philta boss since 1987, also described the Region 6 polls, which he personally monitored, as "very democratic."
True enough, Dr. Alfredo Marte, Andrada’s staunch critic in the region, won the elections, 9-3, against Pepe Tioco during the polls held at the Villa Center Court Tennis Club.
Philta’s candidate Jovy Morante, who was appointed RVP last September, failed to get a single vote despite Andrada’s presence.
Andrada admitted that he doesn’t know Marte, who didn’t even show up and was even quoted as saying "had I showed up, I might say something that would make him (Andrada) very uncomfortable."
Marte is one of the supporters of Children Tennis Workshop President Jovy Mamawal, who initiated the call for a new Philta leadership "in order to save the sport from continuous stagnation."
"The results of the election showed that the entire tennis-playing country is fed up with his (Andrada) administration," said Mamawal. "We have just started the rebirth of Philippine tennis."
Lim, Guba capture titles
Top seed Arithmetico Lim of Chiang Kai Shek School bagged his third straight boys’ 14-under title in the Philta/Head-Penn Tennis Tour Masters at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.
Lim, who reigned supreme in the Manzano Cup and Milo Juniors, was leading 7-6 (7-1) in his final match against second seed Ed Angelo Diez of University of Mindanao when the Davao-based netter retired at the start of the second set due to a huge blister on his foot.
Second favorite Yannick Guba of St. Benilde-Bacolod stunned Joseph Arcilla 6-1, 6-4 to capture his second consecutive boys’ 18-under crown.
Third pick Janji Soquino and top pick Russell Arcilla Jr. were also crowned champions in their respective divisions.
Soquino claimed the boys’ 16-under title over second seed Nestor Celestino Jr. of San Beda 6-1, 6-2 while Arcilla struggled past unranked Gerard Michael Ngo of Lourdes School 6-3, 4-6, 7-2 to clinch the boys’ 12-under trophy.
Zoleta siblings Bien and Bambi of Mary Hill College-Lucena also scored double victories.
Girls’ 16-under No. 2 seed Bien struggled past fourth seed Alyssa Anne Labay of Bacolod 6-2, 2-6, 13-11 in the finals. She also won the 14-under title over third seed Denise Culaba 6-2, 6-2.
The top-seeded Bambi scored a 6-0, 7-6 (7-4) win over second pick Jessica Agra of Colegio de San Agustin to claim the girls’ 12-under title and also annexed the unisex 10-under title after pulling off a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Ngo.
Record field expected in PAL Interclub
The Philippine Airlines Interclub, the country’s most storied golf team tournament, stages its annual championships in Negros Occidental next month.
The 55th edition of the regular Men’s Interclub, acknowledged as the premier national amateur golf team championship, will be played from Feb. 27 to March 2 with virtually the country’s entire golfing fraternity converging on Sugarlandia.
It will be preceded by the 16th staging of the Seniors Interclub, a separate tournamentfor the clubsí senior players, from Feb. 22 to 24.
A record number of teams — 72 in the Men’s and 60 in the Seniors — will see action in the week-long tournament. This is the largest field in the history of the PAL Interclub, surpassing last year’s attendance in Cebu, where 70 Men’s and 56 Seniors clubs played.
The roster include 33 foreign teams, also the most ever, hailing from the United States, Canada, Australia, China, Japan, Singapore and Saudi Arabia.
This year’s competition, dubbed "Shootout in Sugarlandia," will be jointly played on the sugar-growing province’s two premier golf courses — the Negros Occidental Golf and Country Club in downtown Bacolod City and the Bacolod Golf and Country Club in nearby Murcia.
Both par-70 layout have hosted the Interclub many times in the past. The last time the tournament was held in Bacolod, in 1997, it was the Interclub’s landmark 50th anniversary.
This year, the 55th championship will see some innovations, including the on-site computerization of the scoring system. The change will speed up the tabulation of scores of over a thousand players in what has become the country’s largest golf event.
Penalosa in return bout
Former world champion Gerry Penalosa will make his return bout sometime next month against an opponent capable of shattering his dreams.
Penalosa takes on Joel Avila, the first time the Filipino pug will lace on a pair of gloves since losing a bid to recapture the World Boxing Council (WBC) super flyweight title in Yokohama last year.
Avila earned the right to square off with Penalosa after capturing the interim WBC International super-fly crown with a convincing win over Jhunver Halog on December 22 in San Fernando, Pampanga.
Penalosa’s chief handler, Rudy Salud, is arriving from a vacation in the US soon to discuss his ward’s next move.
A television boxing executive has cautioned Penalosa, who has been assured by the Mexico-based WBC of another crack at the crown as early as June this year, not to take Avila lightly.
"Penalosa will be a huge favorite to win against Avila," warns Gerry Garcia. "But if he does not train well, Avila can pull off a major upset."
"For sure, Avila will climb the ring in tip-top condition. Avila knows a win will earn him a spot in the WBC’s top 10 rankings," added Garcia, who runs the weekly show In This Corner on NBN 4.
Penalosa lost a 12-round unanimous decision to Masamori Tokuyama. Before that fight, he hardly worked out a sweat when he stopped Japanese Keiji Yamaguchi in less than a round at the Araneta Coliseum in May 2000.
Sering blasts Cruz
Former Philippine Olympic Committee president and track and field chairman Gov. Jose Sering hit out at the POC ethics committee for what he said was its persistent harassment of national sports association officials, "particularly those who do not share" its views.
In a two-page letter to former POC chief Gen. (ret.) Rene Cruz, chairman of the ethics committee, Sering said a letter sent by Cruz to athletics chief Go Teng Kok last week was too "presumptuous."
In that letter, Cruz lashed out at Go for calling arbitration committee chief Claudio Altura a liar during last November’s general assembly, charging the athletics chief made "false claims" regarding cycling’s international federation in connection with the ongoing leadership dispute in local cycling.
Cruz ordered Go to "substantiate your accusation within 10 days" and warned him that a repeat of his action will be dealt with severely.
Sering said Cruz went beyond his duties as chief of the ethics committee and added what Cruz did was "to harass POC members who may not have the same views as yourself," particularly Go.
"I am writing you this letter not to defend Mr. Go Teng Kok, who happens to be our president, but to ask you: What’s your beef against Mr. Go Teng Kok? It appears that your commission is more "popish than the Pope," Sering said.
