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Manila Overseas Press Club golf today
Broken bat. Justin Turner of the Los Angeles Dodgers breaks his bat as he grounds out against the Chicago Cubs during the eighth inning at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois. AFP
Philracom slaps indefinite suspension on Racing Club THE Philippine Racing Commission suspended Philippine Racing Club, Inc. for an indefinite period after the club’s technical difficulties with their telecom provider resulted in race delays at PRCI’s Santa Ana Park racetrack last June 24. Philracom said that this is the third time in three weeks that PRCI has “incurred excessive delays in the races allegedly caused by problems with its service provider and resulted in intermittent shutdowns of its totalizator system.” In a letter to the racing club, Philracom noted: “Habitual and
consistent delays on the post time of the races,” in all its racedays in June, ranging from 81 minutes to 354 minutes. In an emergency meeting held on June 25, the Commission passed Resolution No. 31-15 that orders “all scheduled races [at] PRCI be temporarily suspended
until PRCI has shown proof that it has resolved its problems with its service provider.” Low sales were also cited as a factor for the suspension, the race delays said to have “resulted in [a] substantial decline in sales which are now in an all-time low and have greatly compromised government revenues as well.” Last June 18, PRCI posted sales of only P13.62 million, “a very low sales output for a Wednesday.” Philracom Chairman Andrew A. Sanchez said the suspension is in line with the agency’s mandate Presidential Decree No. 420, which
gives them “exclusive control and jurisdiction over all aspects of the conduct of horseracing.” “We cannot allow these delays to continue,” said Sanchez, “without imposing a concomitant penalty on the erring racing club. We have to do our part to prevent any further decline in revenue and the weakening of the industry, and to protect the interests of the betting public.” Philracom also reprimanded PRCI and issued them a final warning that non-resolution of the cited problems would be dealt with severely in accordance with PD 420.
Blu Boys vs the world’s best THE men’s national softball team, fresh from their gold-medal finish at the 28th Southeast Asian Games, left for Canada to again carry the country’s colors at the 2015 WBSC Men’s Softball World Championship in Saskatoon, Canada from June 26 to July 5. The national softball squad qualified for the prestigious tournament by finishing runner-up in last year’s strong Asian Man’s Softball Championships. The WBSC Men’s Softball Championship, considered as the Mecca of Softball, boasts of 16 of the world’s strongest teams in the world, who made it through different qualifiers. “Having qualified for the tournament is a victory in itself, but we’re not resting on our laurels. Our PH Blu Boys want to continue improving and measure themselves against softball’s
strongest teams. After their goldmedal finish in the recent Southeast Asian Games, I’m positive that we have what it takes to be at par with the world’s best. We’re gearing up for a strong Top 10 finish,” said Amateur Softball Association of the Philippines President Jean Henri Lhuillier. The Philippines is part of Pool A, where it will face Argentina, Czech Republic, Great Britain, Guatemala, Indonesia, and host country Canada. The other participating countries are Australia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, US and Venezuela. “Our team’s confidence is at an all-time high coming from our runner-up finish in last year’s Asian Championships and our gold medal victory in the recent Southeast Asian Games.
The Blu Boys, presently playing at the WSBC Men’s World Softball Championship in Saskatoon, Canada against the top softball teams in the world, are aiming for a Top 10 finish, according to ASAPHIL President Jean Henri Lhuillier, who expressed confidence in his boys following their gold-medal finish at the recent 28th SEA Games in Singapore. Photo shows the team at its courtesy call at the office of Lhuillier after the SEA Games.
Our boys are eager to compete and showcase their wares as they have prepared hard and long for this,” said Blu Boys Coach Isaac Bacarisas. The Philippines will first face
Czech Republic in its opening game on June 26, followed by Guatemala on June 28, New Zealand on June 29, Great Britain on June 30, Argentina on July 1, and Canada on July 2.
SAN Miguel Corp. will be sponsoring the Manila Overseas Press Club golf invitational dubbed as the “MOPC-SMC Cup” at the Manila Golf and Country Club in Makati City today. Expected to attend the by-invitation only event are business executives from San Miguel and other top corporations, media practitioners and members of the diplomatic corps that include Canadian Ambassador Neil Reeder. Japanese Ambassador Kazuhide Ishikawa, Pakistani Ambassador Safdar Hayat, Indonesian Ambassador Lt. Gen. Johny Lumintang, Indian Ambassador L.D. Ralte and Russian Embassy Second Secretary Andrey Berdnikov. The charity golf tournament is one of MOPC’s fund-raising events for several projects that include its expanded Scholarship Program for the benefit of poor but deserving students as well as the children of journalists who wish to complete tertiary education in the country’s premier universities. The Manila Overseas Press Club was founded in 1945 and is recognized as the country’s oldest and premier press club. Its members come from a unique mix of people from the media and various sectors like business, government and the diplomatic circle.
Salazar denies doping aid EUGENE—Alberto Salazar, famed coach of double Olympic and world champion Mo Farah, denied allegations made in a BBC documentary that he helped runners use banned substances, vowing in an open letter Wednesday that “I will never permit doping.” The letter was posted on the Nike Oregon Project website on the eve of the US Track and Field Championships in Eugene, near the group’s Portland base. The event is the US qualifying meet for the world championships at Beijing in August. Salazar, the Cuban-born 56-year-old American, a threetime New York Marathon champion who also won the Boston Marathon and ran in the Olympics, coaches British 10,000m London Olympic champion Farah and runnerup Galen Rupp, with the latter seeking his seventh consecutive US 10,000 crown Thursday at the nationals. A BBC documentary earlier this month in collaboration with the ProPublica website accused Salazar of violating anti-doping rules, with claims Salazar doped Rupp in 2002 with the anabolic steroid testosterone when Rupp was only 16. AFP