SPORTS
SATURDAY, JULY 22, 2023
C1
Riera U. Mallari, Editor Randy M. Caluag, Assistant Editor
Malixi scores shocker vs. Rischer, enters quarterfinals
FLEETWOOD SETS PACE. Home favourite Tommy Fleetwood set the pace on the opening day of the British Open with a five-under-par 66 alongside South African amateur Christo Lamprecht and Emiliano Grillo as the big guns struggled. For full story, see https://manilastandard.net/sports/sports-headlines/314352033/ fleetwood-sets-pace-at-british-open-alongside-amateur-lamprecht.html
Plans to construct new velodrome gain traction By Peter Atencio
P
LANS to put up a new velodrome for cycling at the Tagaytay BMX Track and Skate Park in Tagaytay City have gained traction.
Sports officials from the Philippine Sports Commission met with the Quezon City government, which plans to convert its ageing Amoranto velodrome along Roces Ave. into a football and track stadium and help out with the construction of a new cycling facility in the popular town south of Manila. Officials from Quezon City, who are in talks with Philippine Sports Commission chairman Richard Bachmann, hinted at contributing P40 million to P50 million in the construction of a new cycling facility elsewhere. “We are meeting with them on this.
8 golds at stake in Palaro opener EIGHT gold medals will be at stake when advanced competitions in athletics are held during the opening rites of the 2023 Palarong Pambansa at the Philsports oval in Pasig on July 31. This will happen after one of the two centerpiece events of the Palaro is conducted as a separate event in the multisport event’s opener. Recently, the Department of Education’s Palarong Pambansa Secretariat agreed on the recommendations of technical officials to move the first events of athletics, the field events. Set to start at 8 a.m. are the elementary competitions of the pole vault and high jump events, while the secondary hostilities in both meets will go in the afternoon, starting at 3 p.m. “Doon na po sa Philsports ang dalawang events ng pole vault at high jump,” said Narciso Dasigan, tournament manager of the Palaro. Technical officials involved informed the secretariat that the track and field stadium inside the Marikina Sports Complex would not be able to accommodate all the events in athletics and the para games when the Palaro officially commences. The venue, according to their studies, might be too small to handle the field events, which includes pole vault, high jump and long jump. With the adjustments done in the scheduling, organizers have slated the all the high jump and the pole vault competitions to be a whole-day event at the Philsports field. Aside from athletics, medals will also be at stake in archery, arnis, badminton, baseball, basketball, billiards, boxing, chess, dance sports, football, futsal, goal ball, bocce, gymnastics, pencak silat, sepak takraw, softball, swimming, table tennis, tennis, taekwondo, volleyball, wrestling, and wushu. The Palarong Pambansa is making a comeback this month after it was canceled for three years since 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Peter Atencio
We’ll discuss on how we can do and check out the legislations that have been passed in the Senate and Congress on facilities that, by law, are under the care of the PSC,” said Bachmann. “They (Quezon City government) are asking if they can convert it into a football and oval. And they plan to help out and fund around P40 to P50 million for another place. We’re looking at Tagaytay,” said Bachmann. Tagaytay City mayor Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino, who is also the president of the Philippine Olympic Committee and is deeply involved in the sport as
head of its national association (PhilCycling) welcomed the move. Tolentino said during the recent Asian Cycling Confederation BMX Championships that the Tagaytay LGU has an available land for this undertaking, located inside the sprawling BMX and skate park in the Kaybagal South area. “Wala na ang (Amoranto Stadium). We have an agreement with the Quezon City government. They will donate for the construction of a new velodrome. Give me two years and we will have facilities for road bike, MTB, and BMX and for track,” said Tolentino, who showed Bachmann around the Kaybagal South venue during the Asian competitions. Tolentino said they have already given up on plans to renovate the Amoranto Sports Complex in Quezon City as the local government has other
plans for the venue. Funding for plans to build a new velodrome in Tagaytay City has been secured early this year by the PhilCycling from the International Cycling Union. Tolentino got funding support after returning recently from a meeting of the Asian Cycling Confederation Congress in Bali, Indonesia. The UCI will provide the design of the velodrome so that it will surely be up to world-class standards. Conditions of the 5.8-hectare facility in QC have deteriorated and are no longer up to international standard. Tolentino explained that the standard length of a velodrome now stands at 250 meters and no longer 350 meters, the size of the Amoranto facility. The POC chief earlier said the budget of building a new one could reach a staggering P1.5 billion.
RIANNE Malixi birdied three of the last five holes in stirring fashion, overcoming a two-hole deficit and nipping Audrey Rischer, 1-up, to crash into the quarterfinal round of the upset-marred US Girls’ Junior Match Play Championship in Colorado on Thursday. Not only did the win net the 24th ranked Malixi a spot in the quarterfinals packed with bidders who hacked out stirring reversals over their respective highly-ranked rivals but it also gave the 16-year-old Filipina the confidence and momentum she would need as she steps up her drive for the coveted championship. Two holes down with five to go, Malixi came through with three birdies in the pressure-packed stretch, including a match-clinching tap-in feat on the closing par-4 hole of the Eisenhower Golf Club’s Blue course that left her American rival in total shock, so dejected that she holed out with a bogey. The ICTSI-backed ace faces No. 17 Farah O’Keefe in the quarterfinals Friday morning with the eight survivors bracing for another grueling test of stamina with the semifinals slated in the afternoon. “I was very patient knowing that my putter and irons were really cold in the first 12 holes,” said Malixi, who missed five birdie chances inside 6 feet before falling two holes down as Rischer dominated the long holes and birdied Nos. 9 and 11. Malixi missed another chance on No. 12 and Rischer halved the next hole to sit on the two-hole cushion with five holes left. But while Malixi toughened up in the face of adversity, the No. 25 Rischer cracked trying to stay ahead and ward off any of the former’s plausible stretch-run rally. The American failed as she bogeyed the 14th and though she hung tough by matching Malixi’s pars in the next two holes, the latter proved clutch, rolling in a delicate 15-foot putt for birdie on the 17th to force an all-square match. “I know that it was a tough match. But it was never over until it’s over. So I kept on grinding and fighting back,” said Malixi. Grind and fight back she did and Malixi spiked her riveting victory with a solid drive and an equally superb 4-Hybrid approach shot on the 408-yard 18th that landed near the cup.
Manila Chooks! eyes Shanghai Masters’ slot in Wuxi
Manila Chooks team
MANILA Chooks! marks its return to the pro circuit as it joins the FIBA 3x3 World Tour 2023 Huishan Wuxi Challenger this weekend in China. Bannering the team in the Level 9 tournament to be held at the Wuxi Sunac Taihu Show Theatre from July 22 to 23 is the Philippines’ No. 1 ranked 3x3 player, Mac Tallo, along with Dennis Santos (No. 4), Paul Desiderio (No. 8), and returning import Marcus Hammonds. Hammonds first joined the Chooks! stable when he represented Cebu Chooks! at the Riyadh Masters last season. The American comes in as a late replacement for Sierra Leonean reinforcement Tosh Sesay, who is yet to secure his visa. Head trainer Chico Lanete and his charges left for China on Friday. “We’ve started our shooting session with coach Renren (Ritualo) early this month and a Serbian strength and conditioning coach
will join the team as well,” Chooks-to-Go President Ronald Mascariñas said. “Manila Chooks! needs more international exposure, build chemistry, and gain more confidence in the pro circuit,” he added. Seeded 11th in the main draw, Manila! Chooks! will open Pool C play on Saturday, July 22 against world No. 7 club Beijing of China at 4:35 p.m. before facing world No. 15 Utrecht of the Netherlands at 9 in the evening. The Wuxi Challenger also serves as a qualifier for the World Tour Shanghai Masters that will take place from Oct. 14 to 15, with the top three finishers assured of slots to the Level 10 event. After not reaching the knockout stages of the Chooks-to-Go FIBA 3x3 World Tour 2023 Manila Masters last May, Lanete said the group is determined to finish better in its latest campaign.
PH swim team off to World Championship A SIX-MAN Philippine swimming team, led by two-time Olympian Jasmine Alkhaldi, left Manila on Thursday for the 17th World Aquatics Championship in Fukouka, Japan. The 30-year-old, US-educated swimmer qualified in the tournament slated July 23 to 30, along with Southeast Asian Games’ record-holder Xiandi Chua, Thanya Dela Cruz, Jerard Jacinto and US-based Jarod Hatch. Olympian Ryan Arabejo will coach the team, the first local squad to be sent to an international arena by the World Aquatic-backed Philippine Swimming, Inc., now headed by newly elected president Miko Vargas and secretary general Batangas Rep. Eric Buhain. “The presence of the world’s top swimmers makes this tournament a fierce competition. But our athletes are out to experience the atmosphere in a high-level tournament, try to improve their personal best times and sharpen their skills,” said Buhain, a Philippine Sports Hall-of-Famer and considered the most decorated Pinoy swimmer. The Filipinos qualified in the annual event based
on their FINA points collated in all WA-sanctioned events they participated in. “The objective is to get the highest World Aquatics points through their best performances and get a chance to compete in the Paris Olympics. We’re hoping for the best for our swimmers,” added Buhain. Alkhaldi, the face of Philippine swimming for years, qualified in the 50m freestyle, where she has a personal best time of 25.50, as well as in 100m butterfly, with a best time of 1:00.45 she recorded in bagging the bronze medal in Cambodia SEA Games last May. The 21-year-old Chua, who trained in Australia as part of her preparation for the SEA Games, registered to compete in the 400m individual medley and 200m backstroke, where she has a good chance of finishing strong considering the progress of her time since her return from Down Under, according to her personal trainer/coach former Olympian Pinky Brosas. “With the progress of her time since her Australia training, maganda ang prospect ni Xiandi,” said Brosas.
Shown here are Rep. Eric Buhain, swimmer Xiandi Chua and coach Pinky Brosas.
The Ateneo student won the gold medal in recordfashion in Cambodia, clocking 2:13.20 and shattering the SEA Games’ record of 2:13.64 set by Vietnam’s Nguyen Thi Anh Vien in the women’s 200m backstroke at the 2017 edition in Jakarta.