PH Paralympic team to embark on massive talent hunt

INSPIRED by the recent showing of the Philippine Paralympic team in the Asean Para Games in Cambodia, Philippine Paralympic Committee (PPC) president Michael Barredo will embark on a massive recruitment of para-athletes nationwide.

“We’ve done well and improved pour performance, but there’s a lot of room for improvement,” said Barredo. ``If we can have a full complement of athletes in as many sports as possible, we might get more medals. Of course, this can’t be done overnight. It will take time to grow the expansion of our para athletes’ pool.”

The Filipino para-athletes had a total haul of 34 gold medals, 33 silver and 50 bronze medals after a weeklong battle among differently abled athletes from 11 countries in Southeast Asia. It was a marked improvement from last year in Indonesia where the Philippines had 28 golds.

But the production was still far away from eventual overall champion Indonesia which collected 159 gold medals after sending more than 300 athletes while Thailand entered more to end up with 126 golds. The Philippine delegation had 172 athletes in 14 sports.

Vietnam placed third overall with 66 gold medals, 58 silvers and 77 bronzes and Malaysia fourth (50-38-35), with its simmers accounting for half of its total gold production.

Barredo believes Team Philippines can perform better if it can send more athletes to Thailand which will be the next host in 2025.

``If we can have a full complement of athletes in as many sports as possible, we might get more medals. Of course, this can’t be done overnight. It will take time to grow the expansion of our para athletes’ pool,’’ said Barredo. Meanwhile, the para-athletics will have a victory party tonight at the Philsports in Pasig for its huge contributions to the country’s campaign, contributing a total of 10 gold medals, 10 silvers and 11 bronzes.

Samputon timed 23:10 (03:46-09:1407:47) to edge Phil Cayetano (23:27) and Chris Lacuna (23:39), while Adre clocked 21:59 (03:32-09:04-07:09); and Alingarog clocked 15:34 (02:38-05:06-05:04) and Masadao turned in a 15:40 clocking (01:5306:06-05:00).

The Olongapo Junior Trackers Multi Sport, on the other hand, turned back 2600 Tri in relay in 17:24 (02:59-06:57-05:08) with the latter submitting a 17:41 and TriClark placing third in 21:56, while Olongapo Torpedoes 2 ruled the 6-10 division in 18:23 (01:55-08:1305:31) over Olongapo Torpedoes (22:02).

World slots at stake as full IRONMAN, 70.3 races unfold

SUBIC – Local triathlon levels up with two key races blasting off today (Sunday) in Subic Bay with the Century Tuna full IRONMAN Philippines and the Subic Bay 70.3 Triathlon staking a combined record 105 slots to three World Championships in France, Hawaii, and Finland.

Three hundred and 40 bidders slug it out in the exacting 3.8km swim, 180km bike, and 42km run (full IRONMAN) battle, and 568 more from 33 countries in the 1.9km swim, 90km bike, and 21km run (70.3) event In a pair of races where one cannot predict the outcome with any degree of certainty.

That guarantees a frenetic chase not only for the overall champion- ships and world tilt berths but also for the $1,000 prize added for each of the top finishers in the men’s and women’s divisions in both the full distance and 70.3 races organized by The IRONMAN Group/Sunrise Events, Inc.

Bidders in various age categories in the IRONMAN 70.3 kick off the action at 6:20 a.m. with each participant given 8 hours and 30 minutes to finish the entire course from the last rolling start release at the Subic Bay Boardwalk. Those vying in the Century Tuna full IRONMAN launch their respective bids at 6:40 a.m. with each entry given 17 hours to finish the race on a friendly course.

FROM being a TikTok superstar with millions of followers to starring in multiple projects across different platforms in various roles, Yukii Takahashi’s rise in the world of Filipino showbiz is undeniably one of the most exciting journeys to follow in recent times.

So much has already happened since Yuki’s first-ever onstage performance and appearance on television in Sunday Noontime Live. And with more big ticket projects coming very soon coupled with the young star’s versatility and talent, fans and soon-to-be fans can expect that she’ll be making even bigger waves in the industry in the near future.

TAYLOR SWIFT releases tracklist of ‘Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)’

n By ANGELICA VILLANUEVA

FANS are thrilled and excited as the American singer Taylor Swift revealed the official tracklist of her highly anticipated album, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), via an Instagram post on Monday.

The album boasts six previously unreleased songs, referred to as “from the vault,” which feature exciting collaborations with Fall Out Boy and Hayley Williams from Paramore. These collaborations can be heard in the tracks “Electric Touch” and “Castles Crumbling” respectively.

The multi-award-winning singer-songwriter explained that Fall Out Boy and Hayley have influenced her in terms of writing her songs.

“Since Speak Now was all about my songwriting, I decided to reach out to the artists who I felt most powerfully influenced me as a lyricist at that time and ask them to sing on the album. They’re so cool and generous for agreeing to support my version of Speak Now,” explained the 33-year-old artist.

Taylor revealed last month that she would finally release her version of the 2010 Speak Now album.

“I recorded this album when I was 32 (and still growing up, now) and can’t wait to unveil it all to you on July 7th,” she added.

The album also includes Taylor’s hit songs “Mine,” “Sparks Fly,” “Back to December,” “Enchanted,” and “Dear John.”