Illam squad confident of title chances in the Big League

With veteran World Series campaigners leading its bid, International Little League Association of Manila (Illam) is confident of a strong showing in the Big League (17-18) World Series that starts Wednesday in Easley, South Carolina.

Illam is composed of Adrian Bernardo, Leandro Banzon, Mark Ong, Charles Catangui, MJ Gante, Tiyoshi Horibata, SJ San Juan, Seba Martinez Miranda, Kevin Ramos, Ranzo Ramos, Dino Imperial, Andy Tan, Chito Dominguez and Vincent Ching.

It also tapped a Taiwanese coach in Wu Hsiung Huang to help out local mentors Edgar delos Reyes and Francis Candela.

Team manager Rene Banzon believes the squad can create a ripple in the international bracket, where the Illam batters, who bested CNMI for the Asia-Pacific title last month, will mix it up against the likes of defending champion Puerto Rico,
Mexico, Netherlands and Canada.

“We are cautiously optimistic but with our extensive training here and abroad, our chances look very promising even though we know that we’ll go through the eye of the needle to win the title,” Banzon said.

“The boys are mentally and physically prepared  and are eager to make a difference for baseball.”

The Philippines last won a World Series title in 2003 when Bacolod topped the girls’ Junior League softball tournament in Kirkland, Washington.

Asian Schools bowling: Sy snares gold as Filipino bets secure fourth

Marie Alexis Sy of Team Prima lifted the Philippines to fourth place with one gold, one silver and four bronze medals in the 13th Asian Schools Tenpin Bowling Championship  held over the weekend at the Esplanade Centre in Bangkok.

The 19-year-old Sy and Korean Kim Jin-sun shared the gold medal with 1284 total pinfalls in six games. Fellow Filipino Dyan Arcel Coronacion settled for the bronze with 1282.

Sy, a management student of Centro Escolar University, also copped two bronze medals in the girl’s masters and girl’s team of the tournament participated in by 16 countries from  Asia, Africa and Australia.

Sy wound up with 3261 pinfalls, behind Koreans Yeon Soo-song (3521) and Kim Jin-sun (3318) in the girl’s masters.

The girls team composed of Sy, Coronacion, Janine Kuwahara and Madeline Mae Llamas posted a 4632 total score to land third behind gold winner Japan (4767) and silver medalist Korea (4742).

The boys team made up of Enrico Lorenzo Hernandez, Christian Custodio, Jayson John Tubid and Jose Collins registered 4937 points to settle for silver in the team class behind Malaysia (4972).

In the girl’s singles all-events, Coronacion nailed a bronze medal with a 3713 total. Thai Yanee Saebe  (3756) copped the gold.