PH cagebelles continue quest for SEAG gold

Once or twice in the past, the Philippine women’s basketball team came close to winning the title in the Southeast Asian Games. But that’s just about it. Second place was the ladies’ team highest   finish.

Although the PH men’s basketball   team has dominated   the SEA Games—except for one loss decades ago—the female squad has never won a championship.

In this 28th edition of the SEA Games, head coach Patrick Aquino aims to reverse the fortune of the ladies’ team despite its loss to the Thais, 57-62, in their initial assignment yesterday.

The Thais and the Malaysians have the tallest players among the ladies’ teams in Southeast Asia. One or both of them are usually bracketed in Division 1 of the Fiba Asia   where countries like China, Korea and Japan are also grouped.

If I remember correctly, the last time we beat Thailand was in the 2009 Fiba Asia Women’s Championship in Medan, Indonesia, where we took a silver in Division 2. I was there.

I was surprised to see some of the players in the Medan team still playing for Perlas—Raiza Rose Palmera who is now married with two kids, Cindy Resultay and Fria Bernardo.

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To volleyball fans   who waited for the live telecast of the Philippines-Indonesia game over TV 5 and Aksyon TV yesterday, the official coveror of the games   was unable to air the match “because of the failure of the Singapore 28th SEA Games broadcasters to cover the event. All other participating countries were also unable to broadcast their respective games during this period.”

“In lieu of this, we will air the delayed telecast of the men’s volleyball match—against Malaysia—at 7 p.m. on Aksyon TV,” read the statement of TV5 Corporate PR head Peachy Guiogio.

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Congratulations to the UP Fighting Maroons for recently winning the Filsports Basketball Association   (FBA) title.

For a while   there, we thought the feat would merit   another bonfire, just like their first (and only) victory in the last UAAP season. But   it was hard to reconcile the team’s performance in the FBA to   that in the Filoil Flying V tournament where the Maroons won only one game out of eight assignments.

“Are   the teams not competitive in the Vince Hizon league?” we asked UP assistant coach Allan Gregorio to confirm an observation made by an FBA player from another team.

The cager said UP is the only squad in the FBA that is a real team. The rest are ragtag.

Gregorio’s reply: “Pampanga was good.”

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HOOPVINE:   Whoever did the patchwork of the Philippine flag with the red color over   the blue on the SEA Games uniform of the Philippine athletics team’s Eric Cray and Kayla Richardson is in danger of losing his/her job…..Red over blue signifies   that our country is at war….. He didn’t win a Suzuki automobile as a hole-in-one prize or raffle prize in the 14th Suzuki Forest Hills Golf Invitational, but Joel Agbaniog, a member of Forest Hills’ sports and games   committee, is contented to capture the Division II title with partner Diggy Alvarez of Southwoods Golf Club over the weekend.