22
Philippine Showbiz Today
SPORTS
July 22 - August 7, 2016
Kobe Paras to play US NCAA basketball at
Creighton University
The promising Kobe
Paras has found a new
school where he will
continue his budding
basketball career as he
has committed to US
NCAA Division One school
Creighton University.
Paras announced his
move on Monday.
The
Jesuit-run
Creighton
University’s
Bluejays varsity basketball
team have produced NBA
players such as Kyle Korver
of the Atlanta Hawks,
Doug McDermott of the
Chicago Bulls, Anthony
Tolliver of the Sacramento
Kings and former NBA
coach Paul Silas.
Kobe Paras goes one-on-one against LeBron James at the MOA in 2015
Weightlifting
Basketball
The Bluejays last
played in March Madness
in 2014.
Paras had earlier
committed to the UCLA
Bruins, but withdrew his
enrollment from the school
due to academic issues.
The 6-foot 5-inch
guard was previously
based in Los Angeles
where he studied high
school at LA Cathedral.
The former FIBA 3×3
U18 World Championship
dunk
champion
last
played for Middlebrooks
Academy under his old
high school coach William
Middlebrooks.•
- Interaksyon
Teen Leyte ladies win powerlifting golds
Two locally-
raised Leyte
S p o r t s
Academy (LSA) scholar
athletes made gold-medal
finishes at the World Classic
Powerlifting Championship
in Kileen, Texas, USA and
at the Asian Powerlifting
Championship in Udaipur,
India.
Veronica
Ompod,
15, ruled the 43-kilogram
sub-junior division in the
World Classic Powerlifing
Championship
with
a
90-kilogram
squat
performance
for
the
Philippines.
Ompod formed part
of the Philippine team,
which include, World
Record breaker Joanne
Masangkay. She ranked
six in the overall category.
Ompod, who hails
from Matag-ob, Leyte, now
trains with the national
team managed by the
Powerlifting Association of
the Philippines.
Last year in Hong
Kong, she made a silver
finish at the Asian Power
Lifting Championship.
Meanwhile, Rowella
Abrea, 16, also from Matag-
ob town, won four golds at
the 2016 Asian Powerlifting
Championships in Udaipur,
India.
The gold medals
were from bench, deadlift,
squat, including the overall
rank.
Abrea was part of
the Filipino lifters who
captured a total of 25
gold, seven silver and three
bronze medals in India last
June.
She was also a gold
medalist in last year’s Asian
Powerlifting Championship
in Hongkong and was
named Asian Sub-Junior
Best Lifter.
The
national
powerlifting team is now
training for another stint
at the World Junior and
Sub-Junior
Powerlifting
Championship in Poland
this month.
Leyte
Governor
Leopoldo Petilla said he is
proud of the achievements
that the sports-scholars
of LSA continue to make
every year.
The governor said this
is a sports program that
the province will continue
to nurture and grow so
that Leyte’s young sports
goldmines will be given
opportunities to compete
around the country and in
foreign lands.
He assured that all the
athletes would be given
the support to enhance
their talents.
LSA, which started
in 2010, is run by the
provincial
government
which develops local
sports talents to enhance
grassroots
sports
in
the province. LSA has
since produced athletes
now part of the national
teams and competed
in various international
competitions.•
- PNA/Interaksyon
Powerlifters Veronica Ompod and Joanne Masangkay wth coach Eddie Torres
PBA’s fi rst-ever female referee makes debut
Janine Nicandro is the fi rst PBA female referee (Marisse Panaligan photo)
The first-ever female
referee of the PBA made
her debut in the opening
game of the Governors’s
Cup between Phoenix and
Meralco on July 15.
Janine Nicandro, 23,
trained for three years in
the Developmental League
before getting the call up
as one of the 16 referees
in the PBA.
A marketing graduate
from
Laguna
State
Polytechnic
University,
Nicandro said she was
encouraged by former PBA
referee and fellow Laguna
native Celso Rivera to give
officiating a try.
She was no stranger
to the game herself, having
played for the varsity team
in her four years of college,
but she admitted she felt
pressure about officiating
a professional game.
“Nakaka-tense
po,
nakakakaba pero masaya,”
she told reporters after the
game.
She was prepared to
overcome the pressure
that comes with her job
as a full-time referee, and
she proved herself capable
while officiating the game.
She
called
unflinchingly
called
offensive fouls and even
a technical foul on Mark
Borboran.
“I’m
very
glad
that she gave a good
account of herself,” said
Commissioner
Chito
Narvasa, who added that
another female referee is
also included in the roster
for the conference.
Narvasa said having
female referees are a
product of his thrust to
fix the officiating in the
league ever since he took
office at the beginning of
the season.
“We have to empower
also the women, we have
to give them respect. I
think they’ve done a lot of
progress,” he said.•
- Marisse Panaligan, GMA