Sports
A7
MONDAY, AUGUST 26, 2019 sports_mstandard@yahoo.com
New league wants to produce next volleyball stars
Umpire won’t officiate any Serena, Venus game in US tilt
THE next Alyssa Valdez, Mika Reyes and Jaja Santiago—all volleyball superstars—could come from the Community Volleyball Association. That’s why CVA founding president Carlo Maceda and tournament director Alvin Tañada are now busy laying the groundwork for the formal launching of the newest community-based volleyball league next month. “We believe there are a lot of young and talented players from different parts of the country waiting to be discovered. Through the CVA, we are providing them the platform,” said Maceda and Tañada during the 36th “Usapang Sports” by the Tabloids Orgsnization in Philippine Sports at the National Press Club in Intramuros last Thursday. Although there are already two major volleyball tournaments in the country, Maceda believes there is room for more. “The more, the merrier. Madami tayong magagaling na volleyball players,” explained Maceda, who is hoping to replicate the success of his other project, the Community Basketball Association. Tañada also does not see any conflict with the two other leagues, Premuer Volleyball League and Philippine Super Liga. “We’re not planning to rival the PVL or the PSL. Gusto lang natin ipakita sa mga players ns hindi lang sa dalawang liga na ito pwede silang maglaro. We will develop our own talent base with the help of local government units,” added Tañada in the same weekly forum sponsored by the Philippine Sports Commission, National Press Club, PAGCOR, CBA and HG Guyabano Tea Leaf Drinks. “Ang maganda nito ay madaming mga LGUs which share the same passion in volleyball and believes in what we can do. Magkasama kami dito sa CVA,” added Tañada, who was part of the Philippine volleyball team in the 2017 SEA Games. “In the CVA, I tapped two commissioners and a strong management team to help me out,”added Tañada. Asked about the PVL-LVPI controversy, Tañada said he is willing to work with the two groups “but will recognize the decision of the FIVB, the world’s governing body in volleyball.” Watamslama Macalanggan, who will serve as 18-under commissioner, said they have already talked to several school-based teams and LGUs with strong volleyball program. “We already talked to 12 school-based teams, although I am not yet at liberty to divulge the list now,” explained Macalanggan. In the Open division, teams like the Philippine Navy and Air Force, NLEX, Pasay, Makati, Taguig. Caloocan. Bacoor, Imus and Genersl. Trias have already expressed interest. Plus, three cities from Laguna.
NEW YORK—Carlos Ramos will not officiate any US Open matches involving Serena or Venus Williams in the wake of last year’s “bittersweet” women’s final controversy involving Serena and Naomi Osaka. Osaka defeated Williams 6-2, 6-4, in the 2018 final after the Japanese star was awarded a penalty game by Ramos, handing Osaka a 5-3 lead on her way to victory. Osaka was booed during the awards ceremony, consoled by a tearful Williams, and told the crowd, “I’m sorry it had to end like this,” later calling the moment “bittersweet.” US Tennis Association president Stacey Allaster had announced that Ramos would not umpire any Williams family matches. “This is our collective decision,” she said. “We want to focus on the competition.” During the second set of last year’s final, Ramos issued a code violation warning against Serena for coaching, seeing her receive hand signals from coach Patrick Mouratoglou, who was seated in the stands. Ramos later awarded Osaka a point after calling a code violation on Williams for racquet abuse, prompting complaints from Serena over the earlier warning, saying, “You will never do another one of my matches.” At the next changeover after Osaka broke for a 4-3 lead, Williams called Ramos a “liar” and a “thief” for the lost point. Ramos took those insults as a third code violation and thus handed Osaka a game for a 5-3 lead, Williams arguing to tournament officials to no avail. US Open tournament referee Soren Friemel noted the event has made selective choices regarding umpires before Ramos. “It’s not the first time that we made decisions where it’s good for the tournament, good for the players, good for the umpires as well, to not be on those matches,” Friemel said. “In the end, our goal is to assign the best chair umpire for the right match. So in taking all those factors into consideration, the decision was made that he would not do any of the Williams sisters’ matches.” Ramos, however, has not been banished from other high-profile matches at the US Open. AFP
PH to hold 2 international soft net meets THE Philippine Soft Tennis Association is organizing two international tournaments, including a test event for the upcoming 30th Southeast Asian Games. Around 300 athletes from 12 countries will see action in the 1st Asian Junior Soft Tennis Championships (Aug. 26 to 30) to be followed by the 1st Asian University Soft Tennis Championships (Sept. 1 to 3) at the Colegio San Agustin Tennis Center in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan. The 1st Asian University Soft Tennis Championships, which will serve as SEA Games test event, will give the country’s top netters the opportunity to test their own strengths and equally pit their respective skills against the best players from China, Japan, Mongolia, Nepal, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, South Korea, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia and Laos. The last time soft tennis was played in the SEA Games was in Indonesia (2011) when the Philippines bagged one silver and five bronze medals PSTA president Antonio Jeff Tamayo Jr. has expressed his gratitude to the Asian Soft Tennis Federation for the awarding to the Philippines the organization of the two major international events, which he said is “truly a fitting accolade which reflects our managerial expertise and hard work”. “For this achievement, I am humbled and thankful for the cooperation of our friends at the Department of Education, Philippine Olympic Committee, Philippine Sports Commission, NCAA Mancom and the PSTA officers specially our president emeritus and former ASTF/ ISTF vice president BGEN Dr. Antonio L. Tamayo,” he added.
Cignal players try to regroup during their game against F2 Logistics in Game 1 of the Philippine Superliga All-Filipino Conference best-ofthree finals.
Cignal unbowed even after Game 1 setback C
IGNAL may have bowed to F2 Logistics in Game 1, but it didn’t dampen its spirit, vowing to go all out to claim the equalizer in Game 2 and wrap up their Philippine Superliga All-Filipino Conference best-of-three finals showdown in an impressive fashion. HD Spikers’ head coach Edgar Barroga said their confidence remains sky-high despite suffering a sorry 22-25, 24-26, 25-18, 25-17, 8-15 setback to the Cargo Movers in Game 1 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum over the weekend. Barroga said Game 2 on Tuesday at the Mall of Asia Arena would be an all-out war as they are very determined to pull off a shocking upset of the Cargo Movers that is very similar to what they did to reigning champion Petron in the semifinals. “We’re definitely more confident now. We’re more eager to take Game 2,” said Barroga following their setback in the
opener of the finals of this prestigious women’s club league bankrolled by Team Rebel Sports, SOGO, Eurotel, PCSO, Cocolife, UCPB Gen, Mueller, Senoh, Asics, Bizooku and One Sport. After the match, we realized that we can compete with them at a higher level, which definitely boosted our confidence.” In Game 1, Cignal played with fire in its eyes. Despite losing the first two sets by razor-thin margins, the HD Spikers stormed back in the third and fourth to force a decider, putting a mammoth crowd at the Big Dome and thousands more watching
at home at the edge of their seats. But the F2 Logistics refused to become Cignal’s latest victim. Filipino-American spiker Kalei Mau carried the Cargo Movers to an early 9-4 spread before Ara Galang and Desiree Cheng scored to make it 13-6. Then, Cheng delivered set point before Majoy Baron scored on a block to put the Cargo Movers a win away from reclaiming the title after losing to Petron for the past two years. It’s still a good motivation for us that we were able to extend the game to five sets. It shows that we can compete with them at a higher level,” skipper Rachel Anne Daquis said. “We may have lost the match, but we still gained a lot of important lessons that we can use in our next game.” Daquis said they went through a lot just to get into the finals. And they will surely fight tooth and nail to become the last team standing.
PBA, MPBL join hands to fight game-fixing CONTRARY to belief, the PBA and the MPBL are not rival leagues and the two basketball entities proved it when their key officials met for a common goal. PBA Chairman Ricky Vargas, TNT’s representative to the PBA board, and league commissioner Willie Marcial met with MPBL CEO and founder Manny Pacquiao and league commissioner Kenneth Duremdes in their allout war against illegal gambling. Also on hand to witness the meeting was Chaye Cabal-Revilla, wife of Congressman Strike Revilla, and team owner of the Bacoor Strikers of the MPBL. The two leagues talked about plans of eliminating game-fixing while closely monitoring the players, the coaches, team officials and the referees. Senator Pacquiao had warned players, teams and referees about game-fixing in the MPBL and he is now working closely with the PBA in using a platform to do real time analytics to correlate calls, scores, performance and bets.
According to Duremdes, there will be more constant communication between him and fellow Commissioner Marcial, while stressing that the two leagues are no rivals, just what many fans of both leagues are claiming. “Ang usapan namin talaga focused more on illegal gambling,” wrote Duremdes in an online interview shortly after the meeting. “But this is a good step towards a fruitful partnership between the two leagues.” Cabal-Revilla is excited on the joint initiative of the two leagues in their fight against illegal gambling happening during games. “It’s a collaboration between MPBL and PBA that they are not competing leagues. Both leagues have the same objective of promoting basketball as a sport to develop athletes, provide livelihood to the players, coaches, staff and their families. But we’re also coordinating and sharing info to help fight the issue of game-fixing,” wrote CabalRevilla.
The PBA and the MPBL are now joining forces to eliminate game-fixing. Senator Manny Pacquiao, CEO and founder of the MPBL, met with officials of the PBA, headed by Chairman Ricky Vargas of TNT and Commissioner Willie Marcial. Also present during the meeting at the Shangri-La Hotel in Makati are MPBL commissioner Kenneth Duremdes (right) and Chaye Cabal-Revilla, team owner of the Bacoor Strikers in the MPBL.
Confident Federer ready for US Open NEW YORK, United States—Roger Federer feels as strong as he has “in years” entering the US Open, having put behind him an epic loss to Novak Djokovic in last month’s Wimbledon final. “This is probably the best I’ve felt in years coming into the US Open again, which is encouraging,” Federer said. “I’m ready for the US Open. It’s going to be a tough tournament to win, no doubt about it. I feel like I’m part of that group who can do it.” The 38-year-old Swiss star owns a record 20 Grand Slam singles titles but squandered two championship points in the fifth set and fell 7-6 (7/5), 1-6, 7-6 (7/4), 4-6, 13-12 (7/3) after four hours and 57 minutes – the longest singles final in Wimbledon history. There’s still a sting for Federer to be the first player since 1948 to lose the Wimbledon men’s final after being one point from
victory. But he is hoping to channel the emotions positively at the US Open. “I’ve been there before, had some tough losses along the way. So many great wins, as well,” Federer said. “I was just more upset rather than being sad. I think being upset made me get over that finals much easier than being sad, dwelling over it too much. I was not going to be too down on myself. “I hope it’s obviously going to help me for here.” Third-seeded Federer opens on Monday night at Arthur Ashe Stadium against 190th-ranked qualifier Sumit Nagal of India. Federer admitted struggling for a couple of days after the Wimbledon final loss but a caravan vacation with his wife and four children left little time for regrets. “I didn’t have that much time thinking about all the missed opportunities,” he
said. “Sometimes you have flashbacks – I could have done that, should have done that. Next day you’re having a glass of wine with your wife thinking, ‘The semis was pretty good. Even the finals was pretty good’.” Federer arrived in New York off his fastest loss in 16 years, falling to Andrey Rublev in the Cincinnati third round in only 62 minutes. “Cincinnati might be a good thing that I lost early. Who knows?” said Federer. “It’s maybe one of those things that sometimes needs to happen, like when I won at the Australian Open, went to Dubai, lost first round in ‘17, then went on to win Indian Wells and Miami. “Played a great Wimbledon. Needed to get knocked down in Cincy, get my act together, train hard. That’s what I did.” Since losing to Juan Martin del Potro in
Roger Federer of Switzerland fields questions during a press conference at media day prior to the US Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. AFP
the US Open final a decade ago to snap his run of five consecutive titles, Federer has reached the Flushing Meadows final only once, falling to Novak Djokovic in 2015. Federer lost in last year’s fourth round to Australia’s John Millman. AFP