Garcia: We are not pulling out of SEAG

THE Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) vehemently denied reports that they are threatening to pull out of the Myanmar Southeast Asian Games.

“Contrary to what has been reported, we are joining the Sea Games. It’s not an issue anymore. We are already getting our lineup ready for the November Sea Games,” said PSC chairman Ricardo Garcia.

BPOs compete in volleyball

HOST team Innodata tied with Qualfon and Aegis with 4 wins in the 1st Innodata Inter-BPO Volleyball tournament, which opened last weekend at the Innodata Multi-sports Court in Mandaue City.

The tournament will run for an entire month with seven teams participating.

P100,000 at stake in Deep Blue Chess

OVER P100,000 in cash prizes will be given to the winners and runners-up of the three-day Eng’r. Blas Hipulan and Deep Blue Open Chess Tournament on June 28 to 30 at the Deep Blue Cafe’s D Woodpushers Club at SM City Cebu.

The rapid chess tournament is a National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP)-rated competition that gives players 25 minutes to finish their game. Tournament sponsors are chessplaying individuals lead by Engr. Hipulan, Carlos Tan, Molet Hortelano, Marckie C., Atty. Mario Tan and Engr. Ehte Dominguito.

Quijano: Heredia’s technique

THE spate of bad luck that has befallen our boxers in championship bouts was halted last weekend when Edrin Dapudong annexed the IBO junior bantamweight title by knocking out Gideon Buthelezi in the first round in the latter’s hometown.

Apropos to that achievement, “The Sting” is currently the toast of fistic town, and many are curious on how he was able to pull off such a magnificent feat, considering that Buthelezi triumphed in their first encounter via controversial split decision.

Guioguio suprises in second leg

LOVELYNN Guioguio charged home with late birdies to shoot a two-under 70 in driving rains yesterday and emerge the surprise leader by three at the start of the second leg of the ICTSI Ladies Philippine Golf Tour at the North course of the Canlubang Golf and Country Club in Laguna.

Guioguio, last year’s Philippine Amateur Open champion, actually seized control early with a birdie on No. 2 and held sway with clutch pars before pulling away from the field with back-to-back birdies from No. 16 to negate her lone bogey mishap on No. 13.

‘Proper training is key to safe triathlon’

THE growing popularity of the sport of triathlon not only in Cebu, but across the country, inspired the Cebu Orthopaedic Institute (COI) to conduct a one-day symposium dubbed as “Triathlon: Optimizing Training and Skills” at the Marriot Hotel.

The symposium was attended by several triathletes, coaches, trainers and medical practitioners.

Azkal head coach gives clubs treats

ELEVEN Cebu Football Association (CFA) football clubs received football equipment donated by Michael Weiss after he was nominated by the Deutscher Fussball Botshafter at the Casino Español.

ALA stages ‘When Worlds Collide’ in Solaire

THE ALA Promotions launched another potential top-rating daytime boxing spectacle-in-the-making, the Pinoy Pride XXI, in Solaire Resort and Casino in Manila on July 13.

ALA Promotions president Michael Aldeguer presented yesterday the main protagonists of the event dubbed “When Worlds Collide” in a press conference at the St. Mark Hotel in Redemptorist Plaza yesterday.

Vaseline champ to join Cobra Ironman

TWO-TIME Vaseline men Xterra Off-road triathlon men’s pro champion Ben Allen will compete in the Cobra Energy Ironman 70.3 Philippines on Aug. 4 at the Shangrila Resort and Spa in Lapu-Lapu City for the first time.

Allen will be facing the 2012 Ironman World Champion Pete Jacobs, who is also the three-time Ironman 70.3 Philippines champion.

Tigers whip Titans

THE returning Wipro Tigers showed huge determination to score a surprising 76-60 win over last season’s runner-up Telstra/Teletech Titans in the CSCC E-League 2013 basketball tournament at the City Sports Club-Cebu gym last Saturday.

Clifford Amarado had a solid effort but his solo performance could not lift Teletech Telstra over Wipro, which had 14 of 15 players finding their mark. Wipro was led by Brennan Gonzales and John Paul Cabrera, who had 15 and 10 points, respectively.

Pages: Jump ball! It’s anybody’s game in the NBA Finals

IT ALL comes down to tomorrow — or Friday.

I’m hoping for Friday. I’m wishing for that tingling, sweat-on-the-palms, heart-pounding excitement that can only happen if Miami wins Game 6 tomorrow.

Mendoza: Inconsistency Miami’s No. 1 trademark

I AM thinking of Game 6 on Wednesday. Not Game 5 on Monday.

I don’t like history that much, especially if it’s misery-laden.

Villaflor: An economist’s take on Philippine football

AROUND this time next year, the hostilities in the biggest sporting event would have started.

As usual of course, the NBA finals would overlap the group matches of World Cup 2014 in Brazil. Fans of the Philippines’ favorite pastime would still be talking about three-pointers and layups, but a good number would also be following the matches in Brazil closely.

Ready for Season 13

THE Southwestern University Cobras are determined to return to the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi) finals and take another shot at the Philippine Collegiate Champions League (PCCL) Final Four.

But so is its nemesis the University of the Visayas Green Lancers, who are also arming the team with the best available talents in its quest to reclaim its lost Cesafi glory.

Seno bombs out of Penang tennis

BOGO City’s Jan Godfrey “Noynoy” Seno failed to advance to the semifinal round of the third Penang Asian 14-Under Series Tennis Championship after a three-set loss to Hong Kong’s Fabien Callod over the weekend in Malaysia.

Seno, 13, of the University of San Carlos-North Campus, said he had a hard time adjusting to the artificial grass courts.

SWU beats UV anew

THE Southwestern University (SWU) Cobras again prevailed over the University of the Visayas (UV) Green Lancers, 69-60, to finish second in the Cebu City Mayor Mike Rama Invitational Basketball Tournament 2013 at the Cebu Coliseum last night.

Limpag: UFL refs in the spotlight anew

AFTER the PFF Adidas Under 19 national finals in Cebu in 2004, I joined a few refs in a post-tournament liquid meal.

What I learned when their tongues got loose was surprising--they can, could and would favor a team if they want to. And they’d get away with it, too.

Tabal, Mwiti rule DYAB run

JOY Tabal and Douglas Mwiti topped the 25K division of the 18th DYAB Kapamilya Run yesterday at the Cebu International Convention Center.

The 25K division was added this year to commemorate ABS-CBN’s 25th anniversary.

Tri elites stamp class

THE sky was overcast, the waters calm. Save for some incidents involving participants getting stung by sea urchins in the swim leg, it was a perfect weather to do a triathlon.

And Amale Jopson and Franklin Peñalosa stood to the challenge and came out victorious in the women’s and men’s divisions of the second staging of the Tabuelan 111 in Barangay Maravillas Beach, Tabuelan, Cebu.

Cuyos tops 250K ultramarathon

CEBU’s Joel Cuyos made history as the first to finish the 250-kilometer ultramarathon dubbed as the South to North 250K yesterday at the Celestino Martinez, Sr. Sports Center, in the northern city of Bogo.

Out of the 20 who started the race, only seven finished and Cuyos was first to arrive at the finish line of what is considered the longest footrace in the country.

Explosive finale

THE University of the Visayas (UV) Green Lancers will face the Southwestern University Cobras for the Cebu City Mayor Mike Rama Invitational Basketball tournament title today at the Cebu Coliseum.

The Lancers set up the title clash after beating NCAA’s Mapua Institute of Technology Cardinals, 74-69, in a come-from-behind fashion in the opening game yesterday at the Cebu Coliseum.

450 compete in Tabuelan 111 today

AFTER settling for second place last year, Amale Jopson is hoping for a better finish in the second staging of the Tabuelan 111 today.

Jopson is one of some 450 triathletes who signed up this year.

Cuyos, 13 others make cut-off

CEBU’s ultramarathoners Joel Cuyos led 13 other participants out of 20 who made it to Toldeo City before the 28-hour cutoff at 9 a.m. of the South to North (SN) Cebu 250K Ultramarathon race yesterday.

The race started in Santander last Friday and will end today at the Celestino Martinez, Sr. Sports Center, Bogo, Cebu.

Ikeda to join RP golf tour

FORMER Philippine Ladies Open champion Chihiro Ikeda signed up for the second leg of the ICTSI Ladies Philippine Golf Tour, adding one more threat to Dottie Ardina’s bid for a second straight crown at Cangolf’s North course beginning June 18.

Ikeda, also a former SEA Games gold medalist who turned pro early last year, took a break from her Japan tour campaign to join the first-ever local women’s pro circuit organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc. and at the same re-acquaint with her former teammates in the ICTSI squad.

Pages: Hoping the Spurs win so the Heat can be champs

THERE'S a pattern brewing in the NBA Finals. The Spurs win Game 1, followed by the Heat’s victory. The Spurs win Game 3, then the Heat follows suit.

Will San Antonio win Game 5, following the script of this win-loss, win-loss, see-saw battle?

Mendoza: With the Boss back, expect a Game 5 war

YES, Miami easily won Game 4 on Friday but do you know the deeper implications of that mismatch, which could surface again in Monday’s Game 5?

While it means big to the Heat as it had tossed them back, into the fray, the win unearthed two screaming truths.

Quijano: Pet peeves

WE all have a few, right guys? For this Last Rounder nothing gets my goat more than a boxer spoiling and ruining a potentially good matchup by failing to make weight.

I mean, if you drag this 40-year-old, beer swiggin’ litigator to the scale right now, I would probably never hear the end of it from the wifey.

The speed that binds

THE sport of karting has brought Rei Aleman and his five-year-old son Seven closer, both sharing the love for speed and the dream to be among the first Filipinos to become F1 drivers.

Five year old Craig “Seven” Aleman, the youngest kart driver in the 2013 Kartzone Series, drives like a daredevil inside the race track and actually gave the crowd a scare when he fealessly slugged it out with the race leaders during the second leg at the Panglao Kartways Sports Park and Resort in Bolod, Panglao, Bohol last month.

FEU tames UV

THE Far Eastern University Tamaraws proved too much for the undermanned University of the Visayas Green Lancers as it scored a commanding 90-81 win in the opening day of the Cebu City Mayor Mike Rama Invitational Basketball Tournament at the Cebu Coliseum yesterday.

The Haier/Du Ek Sam-backed Green Lancers will try to regain their footing when they play the Mapua Institute of Technology Cardinals at 5 p.m. today, while FEU will be shooting for its second win against the Southwestern University Cobras in the main game at 7 p.m.

Visiting runners take lead in ultra

OUT-OF-TOWN runners Welnar Iglesia and Chen Lagapa were the first to reach Ronda in the South to North (SN) 250-kilometer Ultramarathon race, which will end tomorrow in Bogo City.

As of 5: 21 p.m., Iglesia, who is from Quezon, and Lagapa, who is from Iligan, were the first to reach Ronda in 10 hours and 17 minutes. They were followed by Joel Ouano and Rodney Cabahug, who arrived at the checkpoint in 10:40.