Looking for a kick of luck in sports

The newly ushered Chinese New Year is mostly about whisking away the bad luck and dour spirits of the previous year and welcoming brighter things with the new season.

It’s not our regular calendar but we jumped into the fun nonetheless by receiving tikoy from our Chinese friends and relished the holiday we had last Friday that also brought in a most welcome long weekend.

Can shooing away the sour luck of the previous year work for the rest of us?  There are some areas in Philippine sports that could use a tinge of good breaks.

First, although Coach Chot Reyes will find no easy groups to play against in the Fiba Asia World Championships, the country is hopeful to catch a few breaks to pull a few surprises in the games.  The best of the Americas and Europe will not be easy to beat but getting a few African and Asian countries to play against may work in our favor.

Making the Round of 16 is a tall order but clearly these are marching orders of Gilas Pilipinas.  The team got a few breaks with the PBA agreeing again to adjust its schedule to allow a little more preparation.  The long-term plan is to make the team ready to go for the more attainable Asian Games gold in Incheon after the world games.  The toughening in the world championships will augur well for the team, which interestingly, will also be good for Asian champion Iran and bronze medalist Korea.

This April, Manny Pacquiao gets back into the ring against Timothy Bradley. Though controversial and overturned by a review board, Pacquiao’s loss in the previous fight was more a lesson more than anything else.  Pacquiao should now be able to capitalize on Bradley’s expected all-out approach in the rematch because the American would like to erase the stigma of the tainted win.  And with some luck generated by Pacquiao’s superior skills, a knockout could present itself and remind all and sundry that the Filipino champion hasn’t lost his killer’s instinct.

On other fronts, our other Asian Games hopefuls will need a ton of luck aside from the preparations for the Incheon Games in mid-September.

I particularly hope that the athletics team catches a few good breaks in the Asiad after their stellar performance in the last SEA Games. The competition won’t be easy in Incheon, as the best of China, Korea, Japan and the Middle East countries will be in the fray.

A reasonable performance goal is to improve individual times and distances as investments for the future.  It’s a bit too much to expect spectacular performances from the athletes who are really just beginning to get their feet wet in international games.

Hopefully, a little luck will help our athletes in the year of the horse and allow them to come up with kicking performances.  Of course, nothing beats preparation, skill and determination.  But these are also the ingredients that create the lucky breaks that all competitors want to have.