Shamcey Supsup a real knockout from the start

Ms. Shamcey Supsup was, to borrow from the poets, true at first light, a phantom of delight, the moment she stepped on stage in Sao Paolo, Brazil, on Tuesday.
Call it love at first sight, but when was the last time a Filipina of such glow, beauty, and grace walked down the ramp in an international beauty pageant?
Was it when Gemma Cruz (an apparition of the White Goddess herself?) swooned her way onto the world stage and to victory in the Miss International beauty contest a dream ago?
Home fans, headed by Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, have every reason to feel short-changed.
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Why?
Sweet Shamcey, a province mate of boxing superhero Manny Pacquiao, was a knockout right from the first round.
Which meant that, if it were in boxing, Madame Miriam, et al, couldn’t be blamed for growling and crying “Robbery!”
So where was Bob Arum, Pacquiao’s matchmaker, all the while?
Wouldn’t have Uncle Bob rephrased his amazement about Pacquiao and world bantamweight champ Nonito Donaire Jr. having confirmed GenSan as breeding ground of world-beating KO stars?
Count Ms Supsup in, Arum would’ve hollered, my money’s on her.
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In boxing, the judges would’ve been accused of scoring an entirely different contestthemselves, if not of looking the other way.
Madame Miriam gallantly offered to file a protest, at the same time hinting something had gone politically wrong under the table in Sao Paolo.
My kumpadre Jesus Garcia Jr., two-time national cycling marathon road champ, failed to conceal his disappointment.
He swore Ms Supsup was a sure topnotcher at first blush.
My humble reply: Miss Angola was a bit more settled, radiant, regally composed.
That, let met explain, was not a vote against our sensational national bet, whom I also picked the moment she made it to the last five.
* * *
Now, we have only one person to thank for calming us down.
Leah Salonga, internationally acclaimed stage star, called it as she saw it.
Reporting with inborn credibility, dear Lea explained that what the television audience around the world saw was not as truly, honestly revealing as what the judges had observed right there in Sao Paolo.
She said Shamcey was smart, spirited, gorgeous, and represented our country well.
However, the judges, Lea reported, were unanimous about the winner.
“Miss Angola Leila Lopes radiated grace and elegance from the moment she stepped on the stage and gave a great answer to her question,” wrote Lea in her column for the Inquirer after the pageant.
She said she ranked Shamcey Supsup second.
Lea has nothing to explain.
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(S.O.S.TO PACMAN: Vic Galme, who once fought for the Philippine bantamweight boxing crown, has suffered a stroke. He’s confined at the Amang Rodriquez Hospital in Marikina City. International matchmaker Jun Sarreal, who visited Galme the other day, said the stricken former boxer is in bad shape. Galme struggled to scribble a note intended for Pacquiao. Sarreal said Galme helped train and massage Manny during the Pacman’s flyweight years. The note, pleading for assistance, goes thus: “Manny wala ako masabi sa iyo. Bulege man mag-ina ko at mga anak ko. Alam ko kind ka, di lang ako makadikit. Love you, Vic.” Bulege, explains Sarreal, means to help.”)

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