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