INQUIRER Sports

AS IF Manny Pacquiao's conquest of the World Boxing scene was not enough, several other Filipinos proved their mettle in the sport of prizefighting.

Whether they were professionals or amateurs?male or female?the country?s top pugs fought valiantly for flag and country, and stole the spotlight from basketball, which made it to the list of top stories for 2009 mainly because of the dramatic victories of Ateneo and San Sebastian in the collegiate turf.

Tennis, athletics, billiards and the country?s performance in the Southeast Asian Games also made it to the final cut.

?Flash? and ?Punch?

NONITO ?The Filipino Flash? Donaire and Brian ?The Hawaiian Punch? Viloria certainly lived up to the high standards of Filipino fight fans on a sunny April morning at the Araneta Coliseum.

Donaire knocked down Mexican challenger Raul Martinez four times to retain his IBO/IBF titles by TKO in the fourth round, while Viloria dropped Mexican Ulises Solis for good in the 11th to wrest the IBF light flyweight crown.

While Donaire was trying to validate his status as one of the world?s top fighters, Viloria, a former WBC flyweight champion, was seeking to revive his career after a tailspin that saw him relegated into fighting small carpark cards in the United States.
And the powerful blow to Solis? jaw perhaps summed up all the frustrations the Hawaii-raised son of Ilocano parents felt the past three years.

?I got a great right hand,? said Viloria, who was teary-eyed as supporters hoisted him on top of the ring moments after the knockout. ?I admit I haven?t been using it in my past fights.?

Viloria?s energy certainly rubbed off on Donaire, who admitted feeling the pressure of matching the smashing victory of the ?Hawaiian Punch? earlier.

Donaire knocked down Martinez twice in the first round, before scoring another knockdown in the second.

An uppercut finally ended Martinez?s resistance at the 2:42 mark of the fourth round.

?I just did what I had to do,? Donaire said. C. Tupas

SEA Games: Up a notch

THERE were more gainers than losers. There were more overachievers than under-performers.

Despite the wrangling and squabbling among local sports officials and the controversies that hounded the Filipino cyclists, Team Philippines? campaign in the recent 25th Southeast Asian Games in Laos, can be graded a moderate success.

Bucking the odds, Team Philippines bettered its worst-ever sixth place showing in the 2007 Thailand SEA Games by climbing to fifth in the race for general supremacy again won by the Thais.

Hauling in a total of 38 gold, 35 silver and 51 bronze medals, the Filipinos edged the Singaporeans (33-30-35) and came within sight of the Malaysians (40-40-59) and the Indonesians (43-53-74).

The Thais, runaway champions at home with a 183-123-103 tally, could only collect 86-63-97 in Vientiane, scraping past the Vietnamese (83-75-57).

Powered by the seven-gold output of athletics and the five-gold contribution of boxing, the 251-strong Team Philippines surpassed the 32-gold target of the PSC, but fell short of the 60-gold projection of the POC.

The double-gold medalists were Miguel Molina (swimming), Rubilen Amit (billiards), Cecil Mamiit (tennis) and Chihiro Ikeda (golf).

Shooter Tac Padilla, 45, judoka John Baylon, 44, and archer Jennifer Chan, 43, on the other hand, turned back the clock to rule their respective events.

The tale of woe belonged to 12 cyclists who were barred from competing by their international federation, and female rider Marites Bitbit, who was eligible to participate but was asked to withdraw by the POC. R. Luarca

Drought-snapping leap

WITH one giant leap, Marestella Torres erased Philippine athletics? 22 years of ignominy.

In late November, the 28-year-old Torres leapt to a distance of 6.51 meters on her third try to capture the long jump gold medal in the Asian Athletics Championships in Guangzhou, China.

It was the first for the country since the double sprints gold of Lydia De Vega-Mercado in 1987 in Singapore.

World No. 9 Chen Ya Ling of China leaped 6.28 on her very first jump, while Masumi Sachiko of Japan recorded the same leap on her third to settle for silver and bronze medals, respectively.

Torres bagged the silver in 2005 edition with a 6.63 effort. Still, her feat was better than the 6.38-meter jump she accomplished when she won gold in the Vietnam Open early 2009.

But she would continue to surpass herself when she topped the Laos Southeast Asian Games and shattered the two-decade-old Games record of track and field queen Elma Muros-Posadas (6.52) with a 6.68m jump.

?It?s [breaking the record] really my target and I?m happy that I was able to make it,? said Torres. M.A. Reyes

Back to Group I

THE winning partnership between a veteran tennis ace and a debuting Fil-Am kept the sport on a steady rise in 2009.

Cecil Mamiit and Treat Conrad Huey, a University of Virginia graduate whose mother hails from Samar, teamed up for the first time to propel the Philippines back to Group 1 of the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania.

The Fil-Am netters sealed the country?s return with a resounding 3-0 sweep of New Zealand in their Group 2 championship tie at the shell courts in Manila last September.

Just months earlier, Mamiit and the left-handed Huey paved the way for the New Zealand tie by powering the Philippine team past Hong Kong, 4-1, and Pakistan, 3-2.

?It has been a great season, a great ride,? said the 33-year-old Mamiit. ?It?s an honor to be playing at my age and still be an inspiration to some people.?

Mamiit and the 23-year-old Huey sealed the Philippines? dominating season by wearing down Kiwis GD Jones and Mikal Statham, 7-6 (4), 6-3, 7-5, in the doubles competition for an insurmountable 3-0 lead in their Group 2 championship tie.

The pair also gave the Philippines a morale-boosting start in the opening singles with Huey downing New Zealand?s top gun Daniel King-Turner, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-0 (ret.) in the first singles match, before Mamiit blasted Jose Rubens Statham at 6-4, 7-5, 6-2. J. Payo

Eagles have landed?again

RABEH Al-Hussaini powered the Blue Eagles to a 71-58 rout of the University of the East Warriors in the finale of the best-of-three UAAP title series of the men?s basketball competition in October.

?We came out hungry right from the very start, we were on attack mode right from the very start,? said Ateneo coach Norman Black.

Al-Hussaini, who unloaded 28 points in Ateneo?s 78-71 Game 1 win, came out dominating Game 3 with 21 points and 14 rebounds to lead this batch of Blue Eagles in replicating Ateneo?s first back-to-back title romp in 1987 and 1988.

?If it?s not for coach Norman, I won?t achieve everything that I have now,? said Al-Hussaini after playing his final game for the Eagles.

Al-Hussaini, the 2008 Most Valuable Player, again emerged as the league?s best performer by capturing the Finals MVP for averaging 22.3 points and 11.7 rebounds in the series.

The Blue Eagles had an impressive 13-1 elimination record before a convincing triumph over the University of Santo Tomas in the Final Four. J. Payo

Stag party

UNDERACHIEVERS the past few seasons, the San Sebastian Stags were supposed to be greenhorns on the big stage unlike the San Beda Red Lions who were looking to extend their NCAA collegiate basketball title run to four years.

But the Stags played like the grizzled veterans in the finals at the Araneta Coliseum, choking the Lions with an airtight defense to complete a magical season with a 2-0 sweep.

It was a fitting end for the Stags, who underwent a coaching change and came into the 85th season more prepared than ever.

Determined to make his mark in his first coaching stint, San Sebastian coach Ato Agustin whipped the squad, which had missed out on the Final Four the past three years, into fighting shape early.

The result was a record 15-0 start to the season extended by the entry of three guest teams Arellano U, Emilio Aguinaldo College and Angeles University Foundation.

The Stags regrouped just in time after back-to-back losses late in the second-round, making a stirring push to the title behind mythical five member Calvin Abueva and Jimbo Aquino, who was later named Finals MVP.

?I think we played without a lot of pressure throughout the season,? said Agustin, who steered the Stags to their first title in seven years. C. Tupas