If the U.S. has the ESPYs and NBA TV has the Startees, Cebu has the SAC-SMB Sports Awards. While we don’t have a nickname for this, it has been an annual tradition that we sportswriters have vowed to uphold every year as our way of recognizing Cebu?s top athletes and saying thanks to them for putting Cebu Sports on the map. We will thus recognize the top athletes of 2015 at a simple ceremony on April 20, Wednesday, at the Atrium of Robinsons Galleria.
The Sportswriters Association of Cebu-San Miguel Brewery Inc. Cebu Sports Awards is now on its 34th year, one of the longest-running awards of its kind. We recognize the top achievers in Cebu sports. They are the top Cebu-based athletes who we cover, follow and watch as they grow and mature into fine ladies and gentlemen. If they aren?t Cebu-based, they are Cebuanos or children of Cebuanos who excel where they ply their trade, whether this be in the Philippines or on foreign land. They are the ?topics? or ?subjects? of our sports stories and we have had the unique chance to write about them and their lives, some of them which are like fairy tales and dream-come-true stories. Some clear examples of this are three of our Major awardees for 2015: Mary Joy Tabal, Donnie Nietes and June Mar Fajardo. They rose from humble roots and due to their patience, hard work and sacrifice, they are champions at their respective sports, waving the banner of Cebu Sports up high. They are among the 14 Major Awardees who the SAC will recognize on Wednesday. The other Major Awardees are Jerish John Velarde and Richard Bitoon of Chess; Golf?s LJ Go and Charles Hong; Daniela Reggie de la Pisa of Gymnastics; Kiyomi Watanabe of Judo?s Rafael Vidal; Raven Faith Alcoseba of Swimming, Ken Caniga of Muay Thai, Rinna Babanto of Taekwondo, and Justin Chiongbian of Triathlon. From this group will come our Athlete of the Year for 2015 which will be announced at the ceremony itself.
Other athletes will receive citations for their 2015 achievements. For Athletics, they are Shanelle Siasoyco, Eden dela Fuente and Mart John Torregosa; For Archery, Vincent Villa; The Central Visayas Boys and Girls badminton teams and the Soutwesthern University Badminton Team. For batted sports: Kristine Ortega Acuna, Jasper Cabrera, Oscar Bradshaw IV, Ben Maravilles and Isaac Bacarisas. For basketball Dondon Hontiveros, Sonny Thoss, Terrence Romeo, Jefferson Codera, Jed Colonia, the USC Warriors, SHS-Ateneo de Cebu and 3X3 national champion Team Pura. For Billiards: Rubilen Amit and Warren Kiamco. For Bowling: Xyrra Cabusas, GJ Buyco and Clarence Hubert Tiu. For Boxing: Jason Pagara, Albert Pagara, Mark Magsayo, Kenny Demecillo, Marlon Tapales, Arthur Villanueva, Kevin Jake Cataraja, John Nino Vega, Vicente Sios-e, Eduardo Jimenez, Alexander Bonito, Berland Robles and Dominic Casanares. For Body Building Josephine Teria and Dennis Delgado. For Circuit /Car Racing: Andres Calma. In chess: the USC BED Boys and Girls High School and Grade School Chess Teams, and Laila Nadera. In Cycling and Mountain Bike Nino Surban, John Mier, Jun Duron, Aaliyah Mataragnon (triathlon/cycling) and Yuan Chiongbian (triathlon/duathlon/cycling). In Dancesport: Pearl Caneda, Wilbert Aunza and Team Cebu City Dancesports. For football: Alexandrea Gumilao, Leo Gabriel Maquiling, Kyle Ronquillo, Jessie Riel Semblante, Major Dean Ebarle, Lawrence Colina, Jake Allen Vicen, Kintaro Miyagi, Jordan Blair Jarvis, PAREF-Springdale, Mandaue City/SHS-ATENEO, Dominique Canonigo, Mark Joseph Arranguez, Raphael De Guzman and Leylam FC. For golf: Weiwei Gao. For Gymnastics: Marian Delgado, Eunice Odag and Dianne Sophia Navarro.
In Jujitsu: Lovely Gitaruelas. For Karatedo: Orencio James Virgil delos Santos and Tracy Lynn Basalo. For Muay Thai: Team Cebu Women?s and Team Cebu Jr. Muay Thai Team. For motocross: Jubenile Abellar. In rugby: Dixie Yu, Aiumi Ono, Madille Salinas and the Cebu Lady Dragons. For Scrabble: USJ-R Scrabble Team and Reynante dela Cerna. For Sepak Takraw: RheyJey Ortuoste. In Shooting: Paul Bryant Yu. For swimming: Maxime Rooney, Jasmine Alkhadi, Loren Dale Echavez and Michael Ichiro Kong. For Table Tennis: Richard Gonzales, Berto Bas and the University of Cebu Webmasters team. For Taekwondo: Veronica Garces, Dineson Caneda, Nichole Maurin, Lee Robeigayle Navales, Aidaine Laxa, Cheyena Dela fuente, Moses Bullicer, Clement Tan and MacAvyngr Alob. For Tennis: Elsie Abarquez and Zethley Mae Alferez. For Triathlon and Duathlon, Catherine Yu, Issa Priagula, Jundeb Andre Esquivel, Ralph Edward So, John Philip Duenas, Joseph Miller and Tenggoy Colmenares. In Underbone Racing: Suzuki BMR Zic Racing Team. In Volleyball: Gretchel Soltones, USJ-R Girls Team, USJ-R Boys Team, Catmon Elementary School Team and Edward Ybanez. In Beach volleyball: Danika Gendrauli, Jade Bacaldo, Edward Ybanez and Edmar Bonono.For our special awards, our Orlacsan Awardee is Japanese girl Momoko Shimoda who went out of her way to donate football shoes to the underprivileged of Cebu, despite being Japan-based. Her father Shigeru facilitates the donation every time he makes a business trip to the Philippines. Our sportsman of the Year is Ricky Ballesteros for his being recognized as the country?s top organizer for mulit-sports events (Milo Little Olympics) and the Milo Marathon.
Today, Cebu boasts of having the longest-reigning Filipino world champion, the country?s top long-distance runner and the PBA?s most dominant player. They, along with all Cebu athletes have made Cebu Sports shine anew. Congratulations to all awardees, their coaches, parents and supporters. Without you, I?d rather not think about what Cebu Sports would be like. Again, thanks and congratulations for a job well done.
The BEST basketball clinic sponsored by Milo will be held May 16 to 21 at the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu Mango Avenue campus. Enrollment is ongoing, Monday-Saturday, 2-5pm at the venue. For more info, please check out the Facebook page BEST Center Sports-Cebu.
