Ang Kalatas November 2015 Issue | Page 14

TEAM Philippines asserted its domination of street dance at this year’s World Supremacy Battlegrounds hip-hop championships in Brisbane, Australia recently Again, they came and conquered TEAM Philippines asserted its domination of street dance at this year’s World Supremacy Battlegrounds hiphop championships in Brisbane, Australia recently By Marco Selorio UPeepz won the gold medal in the Monster Crew division; Asian Pride of Mandaluyong snatched gold in the Open division. Defending champion FMD Xtreme (Open) of Marikina City and Recab (Monster) of Cabanatuan City won silver medals. More than 1,000 dancers and 100 international hiphop teams from across Australia, New Zealand, USA, China, Taiwan, Guam, India and South Africa took part in the three-day street dance festival. The World Supremacy Battlegrounds, now in its 11th year, featured crew competitions, dance and rap battles, market and food stalls, celebrity meet-and-greets, dynamic musical performances, and live music from the best disc jockeys in Australia. More than 5,000 people came to watch the event. UPeepz, a University of the Philippines Dilimanbased open organization under the college of human kinetics, topped the preliminary round in its division and never looked back. RUGBY LEAGUE Thirty-six Filipino dancers powered their way to the gold medal in the championship round. Philippine dance coach and UPeepz director Chips Beltran was over the moon with the result. There were a lot of good groups, we were really nervous, “ Beltran said. Our win means so much to us because we really faced a lot of hardships before going to Australia. “We had a lot of injuries, visa issues and monetary problems. Finally we won gold and it means to the world to me.” Asian Pride was an underdog and only placed fourth in the Open prelims. Injuries hampered their performance, but their passion continued to burn. The crew made incessant changes to their routine but topped it off with an undeniable ending in the championship. Asian Pride leader Mimong Samonte was left speechless after the team’s name was called out in front of 2,000 people. “Sir, we are still in disbelief,” Samonte said. “We are overwhelmed, because there are so many amazing dance crews that joined WSB. “We were content to even place in the Top 5 andf dance in front of a strong Filipino community that supported us, but God had bigger plans for us.” The World Supremacy Battlegrounds moves back to Sydney City in 2016. BASKETBALL Big Rhinos tame Tams Hoops ball a-pumping THE size and weight of South Africa’s Rhinos may well have played played the advantage over the Philippine Tamaraws in a rugby league Test match at Hammondville Oval, Moorebank, earlier this year. By EDWARD ‘TED’ SMITH The Tams went down, 32-28, after a gutsy performance over a country much more internationally known and experienced in the codes of rugby union and rugby league. The game had its ups and downs. The Rhinos scored three tries in the first 10 minutes, and some of us senior players were thinking: “What is going on?” Fears were that the Tams may have been out 04 PinOzInPlay Tamaraws’ front rower Ted Smith, right, stops a Rhino charging through the defence. Glen Power on the left. of their depth in terms of where they truly stood as an international team. But the Tams knew they were playing for their country, and the team managed to gather momentum and turn the tide at the 20th minute. The Filipinos went into halftime trailing by four points, a deficit from16 in the early stages of the game. In the second stanza, both teams had stages where they felt like they were in control. In the end, the Rhinos won what was a classic international match. Both sides acknowledged the quality of the contest and got together for post-match celebrations. Tams’ Filipino head coach Arwin Marcus about appeared to suggest that the size and weight advantage of the South Africans were a bit too much for the smaller Filipinos to overcome. The Tams also had a number of players making PLANS are underway to launch the 2016 Philippine Collegiate Basketball Cup under the same format of two groups: Group A for the universities championship and Group B for the colleges championship. By JAIME K PIMENTEL The champions of Group A and Group B will contest the grand championship. Details will be ironed out before disseminating them to participating teams of Jose Rizal Alumni Bombers, La Salle Alumni Green Archers, Mapua Alumni Red Cardinals, Adamson Alumni Falcons, University of the Philippines Alumni Maroons, Angeles Schools Alumni, Ateneo Sea Eagles, and Pinoy Tech Alumni. Next year’s tournament over three weekends will be organized and managed by Western Sydney Basketball Association (WSBA) headed by Cromwell Alvarez. In the first two years of its existence, the Collegiate Basketball Cup was run by Northwest Filos Basketball headed by Raymond Policarpio, who relinquished his role with the big event after the 2015 tournament. The inaugural 2013 Cup comprising three teams – Angeles Alumni Universities, Mapua Alumni Red Cardinals, and Ateneo Sea Eagles – was won by Angeles Alumni. Last year’s universities group was won by Ateneo Sea Eagles,and the college group was won by Jose Rizal Bombers. The grand final was won by the Bombers. WSBA will use its extensive resources to develop the Collegiate Cup further with inclusion of more teams and possibly turning the format into a full-blown series in the near future. “Stronger allegiances make the Philippine Collegiate Basketball competition can make the event the most exciting for Filipino-Australians to play in and watch.” Alvarez said. “The WSBA is looking forward to kicking off the event in 2016.” Dates will be announced shortly. In the meantime, team coaches and captains are invited to contact Alvarez on mob 0406 770 810 about team entries. Further, new teams interested in joining the tournament are welcome. November 2015