Philippine Showbiz Today Vol11 No 10 | Page 22

22 Philippine Showbiz Today May 22 - June 7, 2016 ABC Border Bowl: Team BC heads to Vernon to face Team Alberta SPORTS BC Rising Selects Team: Jello Juatco,Jayden Mourato,Andrew Johnson,Kostas Batch,Matthew Klak,Nick Arab,Carson Moniz,Nicholas Butler,Michael Shears,Gabe Wallace,Jeff Vanderwerff,Liam McGennis,Narayan Kalsi,Mark Fontana,Kyle Zakala,Darius Penner,Jacob Macri,Carter Price,Jalen Chung,Jesse Wheeler,Nathan Tonogai,Nick Richardson,Saahil Bhambra,Jacob Price, Nicholas Young The ABC Border Bowls are games between British Columbia and Al- berta, with All Star Teams from both provinces that holds camps, involving some of the best talents from all over the province trying out to make the teams. ABC Bowl Host Chel Sanghera helped cre- ate the platform for ABC Border Bowls here in BC. When asked at an annual meeting once, what com- munity football does for exposure, being connected with All Canada Gridiron’s Ron Dias, and as an advo- cate for players here in BC, she helped tweak the pro- gram. Meeting some of the Head Coaches of various universities, Chel asked to have confirmations from all schools watching for- warded to her via email or in person. The viewership is tracked by VBN sports, All Canada Gridiron, Ron Dias and Khul Sanghera, Head Coach of Rising Stars/Current Stars where the numbers are also logged. During the December games, they had univer- sities fly in from Ontario and spent time speaking to both BC and Alberta Class of 2016 players one on one, along with actual practice sessions.They also watched the games and connected with the players. As President of the VCFL League, Chel would Captains of Team BC Rising Selects: Joe Nickel-DL,Jello Juatco-RB,Jayden Mourato-QB, Nicholas Butler-WR,Michael Shears-OL,Gabe Wallace-DT,Connor Hurley-LB,Connor Way-DE never invest her time into ABC Border as a volunteer if she did not highly believe in it or saw positive results. She says how much she loves all her players in BC and is thankful for all the support she is getting. ABC Bowl is not affili- ated with any junior team, university, or community team or high school, al- though they do support all avenues and promote to enjoy the love of the sport. Hosted and run by All Canada Gridiron with owner Ron Dias, he can- not run and scout games, host camps, build relation- ships with colleges and universities across Canada without charging a fee. Car rentals, hotels, and airplane flights to all the different rural and major cities in Canada are costly and the administration of players across Canada is endless. All 197 players from BC will head up to Vernon, BC to compete at the ABC Border bowl on May 28, 2016 to play against the best of Alberta. Best of luck to the Young Stars and Future Stars, Rising Selects and Rising Stars of Team BC! All games can be viewed for free online on www.vbnsports.com.• Diaz, Colonia get ready for Rio Olympics Weightlifters Hidilyn Diaz and Nestor Colonia are well on their way to the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Diaz and Colonia, the country’s top female and male lifters, will train in Fujian, China, for 71 days and return to Manila just a week before the opening of the Games on Aug. 5 to 21. The International Weightlifting Federation has granted the Philip- pines a quota place in the women’s division with Diaz, who vied in the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Games, the most likely en- try. There’s no spot allo- cated for the country yet in the men’s category. Diaz and Colonia are set to leave for China on Friday with national coach Dondon Aldanete. They will head straight to the Fujian Sports Center where the best Chinese lifters honed their skills with world-class coaches. The quota place for the Philippines was ap- proved after the recent Asian Championships in Uzbekistan where the 25- year-old Diaz pocketed one silver and two bronze medals in the women’s 53-kilogram category. ABC Border Bowl host Chel Sanghera Olympic weightlifters Hidilyn Diaz and Nestor Colonia Diaz led the nation- al women’s team to fifth place in the team classifi- cation of the continental competition. The pride of Zam- boanga City is currently ranked fourth in the IWF’s 2016 Olympic Qualifica- tion Ranking List in her weight class after grabbing three bronze medals in the world championships in Houston, Texas, last year. Colonia got a bronze in the clean-and-jerk of the 56 kg category, but it wasn’t enough for the male Filipino lifters to net a quota place. Fifth in the Olympic rankings, Nestor Colonia could still book a ticket to the Rio de Janeiro Olym- pics with a strong finish in the individual qualifica- tion.• - J.Navarro, INQ