Philippine Showbiz Today Vol 11 No 17 | Page 22

22 Philippine Showbiz Today SPORTS September 8 - 21, 2016 Dream Hoops Academy helps hoop dreams come true Have you ever dreamed of playing basketball in the Philippines? This could be your chance. Dream Hoops Inter- national will be putting to- gether three teams of local Filipino allstars to compete in the Philippines in the summer of 2017. The Phil- ippine tour will give local players a chance to com- pete against Elite teams in the Philippines in front of Collegiate Coaches and Pro Scouts, while gaining an invaluable cultural ex- perience. This year, Dream Hoops International will be holding an open tryout for a Grade 6&7 team, Grade 8&9 team and a Grade 10- 12 team. The tryouts will take place at St. Patrick’s High School on Saturday September 10 and Sun- day September 11. Tryout times will be announced. Tryout Times Grades 6&7 – Saturday September 10 @ 10:00am – 12:00pm @ St. Pat’s HS Gym Sunday September 11 @ 8:00am – 10:00am @ St. Pats HS Gym Grades 8&9 – Saturday September 10 @ 12:00am – 2:00pm @ St. Pat’s HS Gym Sunday September 11 @ 10:00am – 12:00pm @ St. Pats HS Gym Grades 10-12 -Saturday September 10 @ 2:00pm – 4:00pm @ St. Pat’s HS Gym Sunday September 11 @ 12:00pm – 2:00pm @ St. Pats HS Gym REGISTRATION FOR THE TRYOUTS WILL BE ONSITE PRIOR TO YOUR TRYOUT TIME Registration cost for tryouts will be $20.00. Dream Hoops wel- comes all Elite and as- piring Filipino basketball players to attend this try- out. Only the very Elite Fil- ipino players in each age group will be selected to the Dream Hoops Interna- tional Team. About Dream Hoops Dream Hoops is one of the premier basketball academies in the province of BC. Dream Hoops also hosts the Dream Hoops Development League, Vancouver’s largest and most successful Fall and Spring basketball league with over 600 participants all year round. If you, or someone you know will be interested in this great op- portunity, please contact Nap Santos at 778-387- 4543 for more details.• PH chess team in 7th spot after routing South Africa Grandmaster Eugene Torre kept his perfect re- cord with the white pieces as the Philippines clob- bered South Africa, 3.5- 0.5, Tuesday in the fifth round of the 42nd World Chess Olympiad in Baku, Azerbaijan and moved into 7th place. Torre, one of the oldest participants at 64, opened with the rarely-played b3, steered the game into a positional battle before stamping his class in the endgame where his experi- ence proved too much for International Master Watu Kobese. In another display of mastery of the rook-and- pawn endgame, Torre out- played Kobese in 51 moves to collect his fourth win in five straight matches. It marked Torre’s strongest start in 23 Soccer Neil Etheridge made two crucial saves to help preserve the Philippine Azkals’ 2-1 victory over Kyrgyzstan in their inter- national friendly match last Tuesday at the Dolen Omurzakov Stadium in Bishkek. Etheridge saved a penalty kick shortly before injury time before coming through with another stop in a last-gasp attack by the Kyrgyzs to draw level as John Paul Gomez settled for a draw with IM Daniel Cawdery in 43 moves in the second board. After a two-day rest, Sadorra returned at the top board to whip GM Ken- ny Solomon in 63 moves. He converted a pawn ad- vantage to victory in the endgame. Barcenilla, on the oth- er hand, labored through 106 moves before trans- lating a rook-and-bishop against rook endgame into victory against IM Dono- van Van den Heever in the last board. The pawn-less end- game is theoretically a draw, but in practice, de- fense is difficult which Den Philippine Chess Grandmaster Eugene Torre ageless at 64 Heever found out under time pressure. Nice Olympiad apart from and Rogelio Barcenilla also Den Heever, who gave two bronze medals. delivered the points in both up his knight for the lone Counting his drawn ends of the table while GM pawn, resigned after real- Olympiad appearances, lining him up for a pos- sible fourth individual medal. He won the silver at board one in the 1974 game against Costa Rica Monday, Torre now has 4.5 points, the best score among the Filipinos. GMs Catalino Sadorra izing he would be check- mated in one. The win, their fourth, catapulted the Filipinos into a share of seventh spot, still a full point be- hind co-leaders Nether- lands, Ukraine, and India. There are no games scheduled on Wednesday. On Thursday, the Filipinos collide with 12th seed Norway, the strongest team they will be meeting so far. Meanwhile, the wom- en’s team whitewashed Ni- geria, 4-0. After three straight draws against higher- ranked opponents, wom- an International Master Janelle Mae Frayna posted her second win at the ex- pense of WIM Sabrina La- treche in 41 moves.• - Rey Bancod, MB Undermanned Azkals win over Kyrgyzstan the Azkals won their only match of the international window. Kevin Ingreso struck the opening goal for the Azkals in the 43rd minute with a powerful left-footed shot off a free kick by Phil Younghusband from the flank. Misagh Bahadoran doubled the lead in the 52nd with a volley inside the box, but Kyrgyzstan gave itself a lifeline at the hour mark on a goal by Vi- talij Lux. The Philippines na- tional football team Azkals (slang for Asong Kalye, coloquial meaning ‘street dog’ or mongrel) is the na- tional football team of the Philippines and represents the country in international football. The team is con- trolled by the Philippine Football Federation (PFF), the governing body of foot- ball in the Philippines. Its current coach is Thomas Dooley and has UK-born Phil Younghusband as its striker since 2006. The national team has never qualified for the FIFA World Cup or the Asian Cup, despite being one of the oldest national teams in Asia since 1913. Its best finish in a major tourna- ment was at the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup, losing to Palestine in the final.• - Jonas Terrado, MB Sports