HD Spikers shoot for title sweep vs Cotabato

A FIRED-UP Cignal side sets out for the crowning glory to a historic Spikers’ Turf campaign, shooting not just for a sweep of Cotabato in their best-ofthree title duel but the entire Open Conference at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum Friday.

Gametime is at 5:30 p.m. with the HD Spikers all primed to cap a sterling unbeaten campaign they kicked off with a dominant run in the elims and sustained with an equally-empathic showing in the round-robin semis.

They did go through some anxious moments in the title series’ opener but the HD Spikers showed poise and class to repel and frustrate the Cotabato Spikers, hacking out a 25-22, 25-22, 28-26 victory last Wednesday.

That stretched their remarkable run to 14 although Cignal coach Dexter Clamor has stressed the need for his wards to work doubly harder to achieve the feat.

“We will work harder, paghahandaan namin yung Game Two lalo na ang dami nilang options, marami silang palitan, so lahat ng tendencies, lahat ng substitutions, lahat ng strength nila na nakita namin for this game pagaaralan namin,” said Clamor.

Marck Espejo, who unloaded a 26-point game against the Cotabato Spikers, is expected to spearhead the HD Spikers’ assault again, along with JP Bugaoan, Wendell Miguel and skipper Ysay Marasigan along with Peter Torres, Alfred Valbuena and playmaker EJ Casana.

But the Cotabato Spikers believe they have what it takes to stop the HD Spikers with Jau Umandal, Rex Intal, Andre Medina, Madzlan Gampong, Lloyd Josafat, Jayvee Sumagaysay, Vince Mangulabnan and Fil-Am Steven Rotter vowing to spring a surprise to foil their rivals’ historic bid.

Meanwhile, Iloilo also seeks to Imus-Ivy Tuason Photography in their side of the best-of-three for the bronze at 3 p.m.

Meanwhile, the Molina-Casquelo, and Floro-Murakami duos likewise tied for the Division I lead, two points ahead of Ryan Abdon and Wally Barzaga, while Marc Naval and Miguel de Asis stayed on top of Division II with 84 points, spiked by Naval’s ace at the Legends Wednesday,

But Pablo Olivarez and Roberto Ronin Leviste stalked them with 83 Aggregate points while Julienne Guintu and Samuel Gan Nasis took the third spot with 80 points as the battle moves to the Masters under the Best Ball format of the member-guest team event backed by year-round sponsor Royal Caribbean/Baron Travel, hole-in-one sponsors Ogawa, Alpine Motors Philippines, Toyota Silang, Pagcor Casino Filipino and Klio International.

Two teams, meanwhile, took charge with in Division III with identical 84 points in hot conditions at the Legends, including Richard Chua and Fernando Lim, and Dennis Chan and Ariel Ong, while the pairs of Cope-Mcglen, Villanueva-Bautista, Inigo-Paz, Golingay Jr.-Rabutin, and Molina-Velasco’s 96 points tied them for the Division IV lead after Day 2 of the four-day tournament.

Miguel and Reyes, Lopez and Tee, Tan and Lim, and Willy Tee Ten and Fritz Jerrold Lacap, and Robert Tan and Ronald Bairan paced Division V with their 96 points.

Melchor Bacsa and Alexander Festejo, meanwhile, combined for 84 points at Legends to get past Anthony See and Christopher Ilagan, who scored 81 points, and wrest the lead in the Sponsor/Guest division with Gerwin Chan and Jon Baron, and Eimie Hedeager and Sarah Cruz producing identical 80 points.

Backing the annual event are (Platinum sponsors)

The Turf Company, Inc., CWC International Corp. and Newport World Resorts; (gold) Agrexplore Corp., Alpha Quality (GFX) Leads Agriculture/Malveda Properties

Development Corp., Mikro-Tech Capital, Inc./Capital

One Energy, Inc., The Manor and The Forest Lodge at Camp John Hay; and (silver) Abomar Equipment Sales Corp., Club Leisure Management Corp., First Global Conglomerate, Camaya Coast, Le Chef, Inc., Mit-Air, Inc. and Prestige Golf Access & Clubshares, Inc.

Making up the bronze sponsors list are Absolute Sales Corp., Ayala Land Premier, Boeing Material Handling Corp., Camp John Hay Golf Club, Castillo Laman Tan Pantaleon & San Jose Law Offices, Coca-Cola Beverages Phil., Escala Tagaytay, Federal Management & Maintenance, Inc., Forest Hills Golf and Country Club, Gamboa & Sons, Inc. (GranSportivo), GG&A Clubshares, G&W Clubshares, Golforce, Inc., GolfX;

No surprise there

THE Philippine Azkals lost their two tune-up games in the Middle East recently. The first was a 2-0 defeat to Kuwait at the Jaber Al Ahmad Stadium in Kuwait City, followed by a 4-0 drubbing from Jordan at the Al Wakrah Stadium in Doha, Qatar.

And as expected, loyal Azkals fans expressed their disappointment over the results. Which is nothing new and is always the case whenever the team suffers losses. We have probably elevated the national men’s football team to a certain pedestal that every game, even if it is a just tune-up or a friendly, the Azkals are expected to put up a good game as a basic requirement, but a win is a must, and a loss guarantees bashing to kingdom come.

Most Azkals fans, especially the young ones, are not used to seeing the team suffer big losses such as what happened in Kuwait City and in Doha. They are not used to seeing the team lose. Period. And they are not fond of seeing and hearing the team, the players and the management make excuses either.

Former Azkals’ team captain and now part of the coaching staff Stephan Schröck said they expected the criticisms and the backlash of yet another sorry outing of the squad. He said he is not going to make an excuse, but only asked that he be heard of what happened before and during the West Asia camp.

“Fifteen players who were originally invited to join us in Kuwait and Qatar couldn’t make it because of injuries, personal reasons and club duties. So obviously, if there are 15 players missing in the squad, there was a quality loss right away. So we tried to fill in the spots with young players so that they could gain experience at the international level. It is really hard to push for a good result when you are missing 15 players,” Schröck explained.

Schröck said several players begged off days before the departure to Kuwait and by then it was too late to send another round of invites, prepare the necessary documents and visas for the players. He said that during the actual games, only 20 players suited up for the Kuwait match and only 18 for the game against Jordan. Even during the camp, some players suffered injuries while a few more were not able to play because they had to be released to their clubs. Schrock said it was the first time that he saw that so many Azkals were not able to come to a training camp.

“We had four injuries in a matter of two hours, players calling the Azkals’ management team saying that they just pulled their hamstrings so we have to find replacements right away. We also needed to release Manny (Ott) and Kevin (Ingreso) to club duties. We can demand for them to stay during the FIFA window, but that won’t be smart to destroy relationships in terms of future qualification tournaments. And obviously, club football is their bread and butter,” Schröck said. Despite the setbacks, the many concerns and issues that the team had to deal with, Schröck said there were several takeaways from the Middle East trip.

Schröck said he was very happy with the way Santi Rublico, John Lucero, Miguel Mendoza, Dennis Chung and the other youngsters responded.

“We have an 18-year-old starting in the two games. A 19-year-old getting his first cap. People are asking why this player is not called up, why this player is missing, but we have to make do with what we have. We are very thankful for the players who showed up and to those who did their best to join the team even if they were sick and took care of their own visa requirements just to be with us,” Schröck said.

Another thing that is worth mentioning is the fact that the team is full of young players ready to carry the flag and country in future competitions. All they need to do is to be healthy and remain injury free.

Schrock, who just arrived yesterday morning from the Middle East camp, said the Azkals are keeping an eye on at least 20-25 players in the local league, along with 25-30 more players based abroad for future camps. He said he is hopeful that once they are called, they are not injured, they don’t have personal issues to deal with, their contracts with their mother clubs are secured, and their teams are not fighting relegation in their respective leagues. In an ideal scenario, they should all be available to don the national kit, whether here in the country or abroad.

Tristan Licayan, Lexious Cruz, Gavin Kraut, Zachary Morales, Gabrio Serillo and Yñigo Naredo banner the 14-U field, while Kendrick Bona, Paul Gabriel, Licayan and Morales, along with Kean Enriquez and Kraut looming as the players to watch in the 16-U division.

Vince Serna, Mateo Rivas, Ivan Manila and Thomas Bernardo brace for a spirited battle in the premier division of the event under the country’s longest talent-search put up by Palawan Pawnshop president/CEO Bobby Castro.

The title chase in the distaff side is also expected to be wide-open with Chloe Mercado, Jelena Jana, Beatrice Panganiban and Sandra Bautista gearing up for a challenging week as they lead the field in both the 16and 18-U divisions.

Maristella Torrecampo, Ave Policarpio, Francesca Ong and Dania Bulanadi, on the other hand, are in for a fierce battle in the girls’ 14-U class with Torrecampo also eyeing a “twinkill” as she is also the top seed in the 12-U play of the event backed by ProtekTODO, PalawanPay, the Unified Tennis Philippines and UTR (Universal Tennis Rating).

For details, contact tournament organizer Bobby Mangunay at 0915-4046464.

Leading the boys’ 12-U cast are Serillo, siblings Alexandre and Aaron Coyiuto and Mikael Honrado while Naseem Serillo, Sofia Miramontes, Stella Policarpio and Juliana Coyiuto are tipped to dispute the 10-unisex trophy.

“It is very, very easy to say a judgment or a comment on the call-ups but there were a lot of things that happened there. Some people only see the squad list, they only see the results but they don’t know the entire process that was behind it. What I’m asking is to trust the management on what they are doing because they put a lot of work and effort to assemble the best possible team,” Schröck added.

Schröck, however, agrees to comment that the Azkals need to have more tune-up games and more time together in the future. He says comments that the Azkals can’t just go to competitions with no preparation at all are valid and on point. One can’t simply expect the team to win or get some good results against opponents that have been together for a long period of time.

While I share some of Schröck’s points, I also feel the anger and the disappointments of the Azkal diehards. How can we see the potential of the young generation if they don’t have the opportunities to show what they can do on a regular basis? Two games in several months will not be enough. They need more games, a good plan for the next two years or more is needed. There is also a need to continue to look for future Azkals all over the world, but without taking for granted those who are playing well in the domestic league. And if I may add, we already know the players who should not be invited in future camps.

These are just a few observations that we have in mind. More to come in the coming days. On a personal note, don’t you just hate screenshots with no explanations as to what they are all about? To those who are so fond of doing this, please include some short explanation for context next time so that everyone gets to understand your point or your intention in doing so.

Please don’t forget to join us this Sunday, April 02, 2023 from 2 to 3 p.m. for another episode of 3PTS–Pambansang Tambayan ng Sports aired live over at DZME 1530 khz. Stay safe. Stay happy peeps!

For comments or questions, you can reach The Designated Kit Man at erel_cabatbat@ yahoo.com or follow his account at Twitter: @erelcabatbat

ACTRESS Yassi

Pressman portrays distinctive dual roles as Kuring and Daphne in the series Kurdapya , which premiered on March 18 on TV5.

Inspired by Pablo S. Gomez ’s popular classic, the series follows the journey of two long-lost twins who reunite in a strange accident after living vastly different lives.

The estranged twins come from different backgrounds: Kuring who is a provincial girl obsessed with vlogging and Daphne a seemingly perfect socialite but an underappreciated daughter. By fate, the two will meet and a plan to switch with each other hatches, and thus goes the funny yet endearing story of

As the story unfolds, viewers will witness the funny misadventures of Kuring and Daphne as they try to escape their current realities by switching identities, navigating through life's

One of Yassi’s roles is Daphne, a seemingly perfect socialite