Yesterday–last year–was a major time for sports.
Manny Pacquiao fought three times: he won in April (against Jorge Solis) and in October (vs. Marco Antonio Barrera) but lost in the month of May to an opponent much lighter than 130 pounds: Darlene Antonino-Custodio.
Funny? No. But, yes, interesting.
Nonito Donaire Jr., previously unknown, defied all the odds-makers by pummeling Vic Darchinyan to the floor?and thus earning Ring Magazine?s ?Knockout of the Year? award. And the fighters of Tony and Michael Aldeguer?from AJ to Donnie Nietes to Boom-Boom?showed the sport why the Nasipit, Talamban-based ALA Boxing Gym is deserving of its moniker, ?world-caliber.?
Pacland, the unofficial website of Manny P. developed by Salven Lagumbay and Dong Secuya, ranked third among all Google searches for 2007 in RP sports. That?s amazing. But that?s not all. Dong and Salven scored another punch with Philboxing.com?now adjudged as one of the world?s most popular boxing websites. How? It ranked as the 6,918th most visited website on earth?among the tens of millions of sites.
On TV, wasn?t there a square ring and two men wearing gloves almost every Sunday morning on ABS-CBN, GMA-7 or Solar Sports? (Too bad effective today, because of the non-renegotiation of the contract, Solar Sports will no longer be aired on SkyCable).
And, best of all, Atty. Jingo Quijano, my ?neighbor? who pens the thrice-weekly column ?Last Round,? is fast becoming one of the nation?s top boxing analysts.
The conclusion to all this?
Boxing has KO?d all other sports to emerge as RP?s No.1.
And this will continue in 2008. Think about it: Pacman, as promised by Bob Arum, will fight three times. Donaire, Florante Condes, Gerry Pe?alosa, Rubillar, Lunas, Suico, Santillan, AJ, Boom-Boom, Nietes and many more from the ALA Gym will climb the ring once, twice or more times in ?08.
So, let?s expect these next 12 months not to be the Year of the Rat? but The Year of the Punch.
SEAG. We performed lousy at the Thailand Southeast Asian Games. No, ?lousy? is an understatement?we were embarrassing. Champions in 2005, how could we have fallen to sixth place overall in 2007? That?s 41 gold medals compared to the 113 we won in 2005. A net loss of 72 gold medals in just two years!
Our Seag debacle only confirmed what we?ve long suspected: our neighboring Asian countries are getting stronger. And faster. And they?re winning more.
Will this humiliation continue in Beijing? During the Olympics? As we aim for our first-ever gold? I hope not?but I think so. Only months left before the August Olympiad starts and we only have a handful of assured Olympiads.
TENNIS. At the SEA Games, one of the few proud moments stood when Cecil Mamiit, the full-bloodied Filipino who was born and raised in California, defended his men?s singles gold medal against Danai Udomchoke. That was a smashing moment. But the bad new is that Mamiit, because of his lowly-ranking of 499 in the world, might not qualify for the Beijing Olympics.
CEBU NETTERS. Last year, once more we witnessed the domination in the junior ranks of our four best players: Ni?o and Sally Mae Siso, Mac-Mac Tabotabo, and Jacob Lagman. The four combined to snatch dozens of national titles and, when they competed in Malaysia last November, bested their Southeast Asian competitors.
RUNNING. Since I started competing in the 5-K and 10-K runs last year, I?ve seen how hundreds of Cebuanos have been, like myself, hooked to the ?running bug.? Almost every month, a footrace is held. This month, for example, watch for two big events: the Mizuno Sinulog Half-Marathon (on Jan. 19) and the 25-K Tri-City Run (on Jan. 13).
FINALLY… while many people look forward to the New Year for a ?new start to old habits,? let?s start the New Year with a new start to new habits. HAPPY NEW YEAR! (www.pages.ph)
