A20
PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY July 16 - 31, 2016
COMMENTARIES/ SPORTS
Spectator
Duterte to Olympians: Just try your best
By Al S. Mendoza
WORTH quoting is the
following from President
Duterte: “Just try your best.
Not everybody is given the
chance to serve his country.”
That was his heartrending reminder to six of our
12 Olympic-bound athletes
saying goodbye to him on
Monday.
The six were golfer Miguel
Tabuena, table tennis ace Ian
Lariba, takewondo-jin Kirstie
Elaine Alora, weightlifter
Nestor Colonia and three-time
Olympians Marestella TorresSunang (long jump) and
Hidilyn Diaz (weightlifting),
who were accompanied to
the Palace by chief of mission
Joey Romasanta, the vice
president of the Philippine
Olympic Committee (POC).
The farewell event
was arranged by returning
chairman Butch Ramirez
of the Philippine Sports
Commission (PSC), who said
the other six absent athletes
were still abroad training for
the Aug. 5-21 Games in Rio
De Janeiro, Brazil.
“But it goes without
saying that the President
also extended his good-luck
wishes to them,” Ramirez
said, referring to boxers
Rogen Ladon and Charly
Saurez, hurdler Eric Cray,
swimmers Jasmine Alkhaldi
and Jessie Khing Lacuna and
lady marathoner Mary Joy
Tabal.
It is almost impossible
for anyone of our “Fighting
12” to win even a bronze
medal, given the time-tested
superiority of our foes—
particularly those from the
First World countries.
For one, rich economies
provide more than the usual
funding for athletes’ training.
For another, First World
facilities and infrastructure
make ours cruder than those
used in medieval times.
Consider: While we
usually send our athletes
abroad for what we usually call
“scientific” training, have you
seen Americans, Europeans
or even Chinese come to our
shores to train for Olympic
stints?
That is why when Mr.
Duterte told our athletes
to give “your best” as “not
everybody is given the chance
to serve his country,” he hit
the nail right on the head, so
to speak.
He was just being
brutally frank—as usual.
Our best might not be
enough
but
still, let’s us
give it our best
shot—always.
Rare as
a diamond in
the rough is
anyone given
the
chance
to “serve his
country.”
When
he said that,
the President
might
have
probably used himself as an
example as well: He was a
reluctant candidate but when
he won—by an amazing
landslide of more than six
million margin of votes over
his closest pursuer—it must
have dawned upon him that
the mandate was “a chance”
not ordinarily given to anyone
w illing to “serve his country.”
And, as if to put
extraordinary emphasis on
his parting words to our
Olympians, Mr. Duterte said
he would triple the athletes’
pocket money each from
US$1,000 to US$3,000—the
biggest in sports history.
To top it all, he pledged to
increase the P10-million
reward for every gold medal
winner.
Oh, well. What a cash
bonanza golfer Angelo Que
had missed for abandoning
Rio, citing risks of contracting
the mosquito-born Zika virus
plaguing Brazil since last
year.
But not to worry, Angelo.
There’s the 2020 Tokyo
Olympics to look forward to.
With Mr. Duterte’s current
lavish support for sports, I
might as well consider unretiring and wearing my boxing
gloves again. If Marestella
and Hidilyn could make it
three times to the Olympics, I
guess why not me, too—even
if only once?
Who knows
that in my debut, I could hit
Mr. Duterte’s jackpot.
OK, such comeback
seems too late in my career.
But, hey, I have always
believed in beginner’s luck.
It’s simply too tempting to
make a stab at Mr. Duterte’s
lavish sports backing.
There’s just one danger
lurking in the midst: Manny
Pacquiao. For, if he’d also unretire and join the Tokyo fray
in 2020, my boxing slot could
be in jeopardy. Ouch!
* * * * *
Pacquiao coming back
after Pagara’s shock defeat
THE hottest twin topics
in boxing today are still the
circus-clad comeback of
Manny Pacquiao and the
lousy loss of the unbeaten
Prince Albert Pagara.
I had always expected
Pacquiao to un-retire. I kept
telling friends always willing
to listen: “Just you wait. After
the election, Pacquiao will
announce his return to the
ring.”
Well, it was not Pacquiao
who did the announcing. Bob
Arum did.
But, of course.
If Pacquiao is the
undisputed, unprecedented,
world champion in eight
different weight divisions,
Arum is the unchallenged king
in boxing maneuverings—not
just a decade or 20 years ago
today but, listen up, almost a
quarter of a century already.
Beat that, Oscar De La
Hoya.
Top that, Don King.
Step
aside,
Floyd
Mayweather Jr.
You are but a bunch of
poor copycats.
Arum, wily as ever,
timed his announcement of
Pacquiao’s return so as not to
disrupt Pacquiao’s first foray
as an honorable senator on
July 25, occupying his august
seat at Batasan that day when
President Duterte delivers his
first Sona (State of the Nation
Address).
And while Pacquiao
expressed
surprise
over
Arum’s move, that was to
be expected as well. In any
charade, one has got to be
picture-perfect in telegraphing
cues.
So, to make the script
appear believable, Pacquiao
had to say he was caught
unawares about his unretirement. In the same vein,
he said he’d be ready for a
ring return “anytime.”
Next, we hear Arum say
he’s had talks with Mayweather
to fight Pacquiao again, either
in October or November.
Vintage Arum. If he might
succeed to sell Taal Lake to
Megaworld, believe it.
Now as to why Albert
Pagara lost—no puzzle there.
While he lacked strategy, he
played into the strategy of
Cesar Juarez.
Pagara should have
poured on more knock-out
efforts after knocking Juarez
down in the first round.
Instead, it was the other way
around:
Juarez attacking
Pagara at will from the second
round on, in the process
successfully camouflaging the
ill-effects of a psychological
defeat from that first-round
knockdown.
In knocking Pagara out in
the 8th, Juarez employed his
lawyer skills to the hilt against
a foe so bereft of mental
power. For, isn’t boxing, like
practically all sports, also a
mind game?
In short, it was a case of
a lawyer defeating a boxer—
easily. That simple.
* * * *
Blatche delivers big blow
on Gilas
WHAT is this news about
Andray Blatche not playing
for Gilas Pilipinas anymore?
That he is out of the Fiba
Asia Challenge Sept. 9-18 in
Tehran?
Has the former American
mainstay in the NBA ceased
WWW.PHILIPPINEASIANNEWSTODAY.COM
to be a Filipino?
As a naturalized Filipino,
Blatche could play for Gilas
Pilipinas anytime. He first
suited up for the country
during the 2014 Fiba Worlds
in Spain. He has since done
that almost every time Gilas
went international—as in the
just-ended six-nation Fiba
Olympic Qualifying won by
France after defeating Canada
in the finals at Pasay’s MOA
Arena.
Just to be clear, there’s
nothing wrong with Blatche
becoming
a
naturalized
Filipino. Gilas leans much
on his 7-foot-1 ceiling in
battles overseas. Besides,
such practice of players,
mostly Americans, getting
naturalized has become part
of the world’s globalization
process.
So that today, many other
countries also have their own
Blatches in accordance with a
ruling by the World Basketball
Federation (Fiba) allowing
all Fiba-member nations to
field one naturalized player
each in any Fiba-sanctioned
tournament.
Blatche,
like
every
naturalized Filipino, enjoys
virtually all the rights and
privileges of every Filipino.
Except that he could not run
for congressman, senator, vice
president and President of the
Philippines. Those positions
are reserved chiefly for naturalborn Filipinos as mandated
by the Constitution.
Just to clarify, a naturalborn Filipino is one who did
not acquire Filipino citizenship
by operation of law. Blatche
became a naturalized Filipino
via a Congress act initiated by
then Rep. Sonny Angara.
But back to the question
on why Blatche is now out of
Gilas.
According to Gilas team
manager Butch Antonio,
Blatche’s stint with Gilas is on
“per tournament basis.” His
contract with Gilas expired
after the Olympic Qualifying.
“But we can always
recall him,” said Antonio.
And pay him huge
almighty dollars again?
Not generally known
is, Blatche gets a hefty sum
playing for Gilas, his contract
similar to players playing in
the PBA. In short, when he’s
not playing for Gilas, Blatche
lives in the US—like a normal
American.
Blatche can also be
called a mercenary, as in
a gun-for-hire from the
underworld?
Up to you.