Asian sports superstars in a class of their own

SACRAMENTO—In the course of a few days beginning Thursday last week, superstars of Asian stock made more headlines than any other luminary in the sports firmament.
From such places as a clay court in Paris and a hard court in Dallas, the world voraciously devoured news about these celebrities—with every conceivable media profiting handsomely from their star power.
On Saturday, Li Na beat defending champion Francesca Schiavone of Italy in the women’s singles of the French Open tennis at Roland Garros to become the first Chinese and Asian player to win a Grand Slam singles title.
Tennis is still considered an elite sport in China, the Philippines and most countries in Asia. But Li’s victory should rapidly increase participation. Her triumph also showed what the region’s players can accomplish with substantial physical and mental training to compete with the world’s tennis titans.
On Monday, Manny Pacquiao, boxing’s pound for pound king made news without throwing a punch when his lackluster bout with Shane Mosley turned out to be a pay-per-view hit.
That fight on May 7 recorded a minimum of 1.3 million PPV buys and could go as high as 1.4 million, Bob Arum, Pacquiao’s promoter said. The PPV take from what beat writers call the most cordial boxing fight in recent memory surpassed receipts from Manny’s three previous fights, further cementing his position as the sport’s marquee attraction.
On Tuesday, Tiger Woods made an announcement that has been expected. He pulled out of the US Open that starts on June 16.
“I was hopeful that I could play, but if I did, I risk further damage to my left leg,” said the Thai-American Woods on his web site.
Tiger’s short announcement about his health immediately created a media feeding frenzy about how soon he can resume his pursuit of Jack Nicklaus’ record for major titles. Woods is the second all-time major championship victory leader behind the Golden Bear.
Meanwhile, at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, coach Erik Spoelstra was in the hot seat as the Mavericks beat his Miami Heat, 112-103, in the pivotal Game 5 of the NBA finals Thursday night.
The Filipino-American coach who presided over an epic Heat meltdown Thursday last week in Game 2 of the finals is going home to South Beach for Games 6 and 7 trailing Dallas, 2-3.
Fortunately, the media, haters and even die hard Heat fans have spared Spoelstra, a 40-year-old bachelor with a wide-eyed school boy look and blamed mega star LeBron James and his forgettable fourth quarter stints for the Heat’s inability to close out games.
The public can’t get enough breaking news about Asian superstars that the only other development that seemed to matter, media-wise, was the cybersex scandal involving a US congressman named Anthony D. Weiner of New York.
The solon admitted sending a photo of himself in his underwear with a note pointing to his private parts to a woman in Seattle over Twitter last week. Amid calls for him to resign, the congressman had better convince his constituents and the House ethics committee why he should remain office.
With a name like Weiner, his explanation has to be good.
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Cheered by sycophants of its main backer and an obedient segment of the sporting press, the Smart Gilas national basketball team placed fourth in the recent Fiba Asia Champions Cup. Prophets of false hope still think the high-profile, high-maintenance team is the best thing that happened since sliced bread. If you’re annoyed as heck, you’ve been in my shoes.