No substitute for hard work, discipline, desire

We had a chance to talk to Smart-PLDT chair Manny Pangilinan at halftime of the Talk ‘N Text-San Miguel Beer PBA game at the Araneta Coliseum on Wednesday.

Exchanging ideas with a gentleman whose passion for sports is unparalleled was not merely satisfying. As always, it was truly enriching.
We spoke about the magnificent performance of pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao against Antonio Margarito and zeroed in on the time Manny was badly hurt by a vicious shot to the body.
It reminded us of the devastating punch with which Margarito knocked out Kermit Cintron in the sixth round to win the IBF welterweight title in April 2008.
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We had watched Manny in training both at the Johnny Elorde gym in Quezon City as well as the Shape Up gym in Baguio City where he often worked on ducking under the right hand and whirling around out of harm’s way.
That’s exactly what Manny did when he doubled up, in pain, from the body shot from Margarito.
But as strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza said, it was the indomitable courage of Pacquiao that saved him from the unthinkable possibility of defeat.
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To Pangilinan, Pacquiao demonstrated that courage is an inborn trait among Filipinos that we should harness no matter what the sport or what the circumstances of an individual in the broader context of national life.
It seemed doubly relevant in the face of the disappointing loss of the Smart Gilas national basketball team to Iran in the ongoing 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou on Tuesday night. 
MVP didn’t give up on the team as others may have wanted to because that’s the essence of the man. He had a quiet confidence in the team and probably figured that the players would draw inspiration from Pacquiao’s performance and turn things around in Wednesday’s game against a strong team from Qatar.
How wonderfully correct he was.
The Filipinos showed their resiliency and fighting hearts by coming through with a vengeance against Qatar.
And when the result was announced by the PBA stadium barker, the fans let out a few howls of glee.
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To MVP, the essential gratification of success in sports is that we can draw parallel lessons on how to overcome the challenges we face.
The fact that Pacquiao broke away from the bondage of childhood poverty to create history by becoming the first boxer to win eight world titles in as many weight divisions should serve as a beacon to the poor among our people.
To MVP, it takes hard work, discipline, a relentless desire to overcome adversity and the driving force of a fighting heart.
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He believes, like many of us do, that sports can serve as a catalyst for molding the strength of purpose and a sense of togetherness that will help us move forward as a nation.
At the same time, he believes in what we have strongly advocated several times in the past that, whether we win or lose in sports, we must never condemn our athletes but rather encourage them to learn from mistakes they may have made.
He believes that we must understand that those who compete are driven by a desire to succeed and, in the process, make tremendous sacrifices in order to bring glory to themselves and to their country.

Fore by Four Invt’l tees off at Eagle Ridge

THE FORE By Four Invitational member-guest tournament of Eagle Ridge Golf and Country Club in Gen. Trias, Cavite, will be played today and tomorrow with three units of the hot-selling Hyundai Accent sedans up for grabs.
The grand raffle prize is a pair of Accent cars which will be awarded to a member and his guest partner while a third Accent, worth about P700,000, will a hole-in-one prize.
Sta. Lucia Realty Development Inc., which is staking a premium lot at the Rio de Oro subdivision in Gen. Trias for another hole-in-one, is one of the major sponsors that also includes Alsons Land Corp. Autohub Group and Hyundai Global City. 
Class A and Class C teams will play the Norman and Dye layouts while those in Class B, Class D and the ladies divisions will be at the Aoki and Faldo courses. 
The four-course set-up makes it easy for Eagle to accommodate a big field for the Fore By Four. The entry fee is P8,000 per team.