INQUIRER SPORTS TOP 7 Stories of the year: Team Lakay’s dominance in ONE
MANILA, Philippines—It’s the year of Team Lakay.
Gold was the luster of 2018 for the Baguio-based team as it ran through the competition in ONE Championship to become the most prolific organization in the promotion, making their story no. 2 in INQUIRER.net’s top 7 sports stories of the year.
Mark Sangiao, the quiet and peaceful mentor of equally friendly warriors, guided Kevin Belingon, Joshua Pacio, Geje Eustaquio, and the iconic Eduard Folayang to World titles in their respective weight classes.
Eustaquio (11-6) was the first of the four to become a World champion in 2018 when he unified the flyweight belts after a split decision win over rival Adriano Moraes in June after reigning on an interim basis since January.
Belingon (20-5) followed soon in July to become the interim bantamweight champion after a unanimous decision win over Martin Nguyen, which he followed up with a split decision victory over Bibiano Fernandes to become the undisputed champion in November.
Pacio (13-2) was the next to hold gold in the bunch when he dethroned Yoshitaka Naito via unanimous decision for the ONE World strawweight title.
And just before December arrived, Folayang (21-6) dominated Amir Khan to become a two-time ONE World lightweight champion.
Of the eight male champions of ONE, five are from the Philippines and four of those Filipinos are under the tutelage of Sangiao at Team Lakay.
And the soft-spoken coach assured that his team is just getting started.
“This is definitely the best year for us, but of course, we will not stop,” said Sangiao. “We have to keep on improving and defend those belts.”
“It’s our biggest year, we won titles, and received many awards this year. This is the result of our hard work, dedication, and sacrifice. These awards and titles are just the fruits of our labor.”
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