SINGAPORE?The Straits Times, the leading newspaper here, yesterday devoted nine full pages to sports.
Football, the most popular game in this nation of 4.8 million people, dominated the news?with four full-page spreads that was back-paged with Singapore?s 5-0 win over Cambodia last Friday at the Asean Football Federation Suzuki Cup in Jakarta. Next, there loomed the giant headline: ?THROWING IT AWAY: The Big Four have stumbled in the first half of the season because of different problems,? talking of four of football?s most famous ball clubs: Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and United. On another page there?s a photo of Ronaldo with the accompanying title, FORMER STAR RONALDO MORE FAT THAN FIT. True enough, the picture of the former Fifa Player of the Year with a bulging stomach and puffy face is hilarious and embarrassing.
The 2008 Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon?which I, together with 27 others from Cebu, are running?is, as expected, a major story here. On The Straits Times front page was a picture of Peter Bennett and Yen Nguyen?a husband-and-wife tandem who vacation in an unusual way: they run marathons.
The Singapore Marathon this morning? It?s Peter?s 200th race and Yen?s 320th. Theirs is a hyper-active relationship: Back in 1999, they met while participating in a corporate track meet and have, since then, traveled to 20 countries and flew 950,000 air miles to join marathon races. Last week, it was the Lake Kawaguchi Marathon in Japan. Their lifetime goal? To run marathons in 50 countries. And the title of their story is perfectly-worded: Running makes their world go round.
On the same sports page are the words… RECORD IN HIS SIGHTS. It?s a feature on Luke Kibet, the 25-year-old Kenyan marathon world champion. It?s his first Singapore 42K and he?ll be up against strong competition: Elijah Mbogo, last year?s winner; Amos Matui, the 2005 and 2006 champion; and Abel Kirui, winner of last April?s Vienna Marathon in a personal best of 2:07:38. The bond that connects all these elite runners? They?re from Kenya.
But, after all the football pages and the Singapore Marathon stories, one other page lights up The Straits Times: Manny Pacquiao vs. Oscar de la Hoya. In bold, black-and-red colors, the title screams: PACQUIAO?S PAYDAY.
Underneath it, the subhead, ?Win or lose, Filipino will pocket at least $22M in bout against de la Hoya.? One photo of Manny pounding on David Diaz adorns the page; another of him in a coat-and-tie with Oscar, followed by a head-to-head analysis named, ?Boxers pros and cons.?
This fight, you see, is not only popular in Cebu, Manila, Gen. Santos City, in Mexico or in Las Vegas?it?s also worldwide sports headline news. That?s good.
The sad part for us, the 28 runners from Cebu (plus the half-dozen spouses and, add to that group, my daughter Jana), is that we won?t be able to watch the fight. Our marathon starts at 5:30 a.m. and, given the five hours-plus we?ll take to finish, plus all the picture-taking, hand-shaking, hugging, congratulating?we?ll be done around noon-time.
Singapore and the Philippines have the same time?so, in theory, we should be able to watch it. The problem is, it?s not being shown here. I asked Cris Dizon, a good friend from Cebu who?s now Singapore-based, to help check the hang-out spots of Filipinos, and none have the pay-per-view access to show the fight.
Chris Aldeguer, who?s one of the few Cebuanos to watch the fight live at the MGM Grand (and who?ll be running his own 42K the following morning at the Las Vegas Marathon), promised to update us?via text messaging. But, nah?nothing beats watching it with one?s bare eyes… like you?ll do.
But, come to think of it, after running 42 kilometers under the sweltering sun of Singapore?s skies, we?ll be too weary, too beaten, with too many aching muscles to think about our fellow Filipino whom, we?re sure, is even more weary, with more aching muscles.
