SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE: FIL AM BBOY BAILEY MUNOZ IS AMERICA'S FAVORITE DANCER!

A Filipino - American BBoy is this year's America's Favorite Dancer! After 16 weeks of auditions and competitions, the 16th season of the hit talent competition So You Think You Can Dance has crowned a new winner - FilAm BBoy Bailey Munoz.

Munoz officially became the first BBoy to become the winner of the show. He also made it back to back wins for the FilAms - after Hannahlei Cabanilla won last year.

Munoz, who was born in the Bay Area but grew and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada, won over his show dance partner - Mariah Russel, Gino Cosculluela and Sophie Pittman in the show's live finale last September 16.

Munoz has been a strong contender all throughout the competition and has adapted to partner dances and the different genres as weeks in the competition progressed. Standing only 5 feet tall, Munoz stood tall as the season winner.

Congratulations Bailey and we are proud of you!

VOLLEYBALL: PHILIPPINE LINE UP FOR THE SEA GRAND PRIX REVEALED

The Philippine Team pool for the Southeast Asian Grand Prix has been announced by the Larong Volleyball ng Pilipinas Inc. (LVPI). The team will be composed of a mixture of veterans and young talents both from the 2 semi-professional leagues - Pilipinas Superliga and Philippine Volleyball League.

The team is composed of the following players:

Kath Arado - Generika Ayala
Majoy Baron - F2 Logistics
Roselyn Doria - Dignal HD
Jovelyn Gonzaga - Pacific Town Army / Cignal HD
Eya Laure - Foton Tornadoes
Dawn Macandili - F2 Logistics
Maddie Madayag - Choco Mucho
Aiza Maizo-Pontillas - Petron
Aby Marano - F2 Logistics
Kalei Mau - F2 Logistics
Ces Molina - Petron
Jia Morado - Creamline
Mylene Paat - Cignal HD
Alohi Rpbins-Hardy - Cignal HD
Iris Tolenada - Motolite
Alyssa Valdez - Creamline

The team will depart for Thailand for a training camp on September 7 and competition will start on September 20 in Bangkok.

2020 OLYMPICS: EJ OBIENA BECOMES THE FIRST FILIPINO TO QUALIFY TO THE 2020 OLYMPICS

The Philippines' quest for our first Olympic gold medal has begun.

Pole vaulter Ernest John Obiena just became the first Filipino athlete to qualify to the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.  EJ was able to qualify by clearing 5.81 meters in an athletic meet in Italy.

With this jump, EJ was again able to set a new Philippine national record, eclipsing the record he set earlier this year at 5.76 meters.

CNN Philippines' Sportsdesk posted in their Twitter account a video of Obiena's jump:

WATCH: Filipino pole vaulter EJ Obiena clears 5.81 meters in an athletics meet in Italy, making him the first Filipino to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics 👏🏽🇵🇭 https://t.co/wAKaxrZvLD pic.twitter.com/moNKNWpQIV

— CNN Philippines Sports Desk (@sportsdeskph) September 4, 2019

I hope this will be the start of the influx of athletes that would qualify to the Olympics. Laban Pilipinas!

UP FIGHTING MAROONS: LINE UP FOR UAAP SEASON 82 MEN'S BASKETBALL REVEALED

The line up of the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons for the UAAP Season 82 men's basketball competition has been revealed as posted in their social media pages.

Leading the Maroons are Season 81 MVP Bright Akhuetie and seniors Jun Manzo, Jerson Prado and the returning Noah Webb who skipped last season due to injury.

New faces for the Maroons are recruits from De La Salle University - Ricci Rivero and JBoy Gob and another prized recruit Kobe Paras, all of whom served residency last season. Also donning the maroon jersey this year is former CESAFI MVP Jaybie Mantilla, a one and done player who will be sharing the point guard duties with Manzo.

Holdovers are season 81 Mythical 5 member Juan Gomez de Liano and brother Javi Gomez de Liano, Janjan Jaboneta, Jaydee Tungcab, Will Gozum, James Spencer, David Murrel and Pio Longa.

Here are the players as posted in their official Twitter page:

WE ARE YOUR FIGHTING MAROONS!

The UP Men’s Basketball Team (UPMBT) IS ready to go all out in the men's basketball tournament of UAAP SEASON 82.

Let’s meet half of our UP Men’s Basketball Team for UAAP season 82. #UPFight #TeamAboveAll pic.twitter.com/acLN2urgLy

— UP Fighting Maroons (@upmbt) August 29, 2019

pic.twitter.com/Eiuyr3DMkk

— UP Fighting Maroons (@upmbt) August 29, 2019

WE ARE YOUR FIGHTING MAROONS!

The UP Men’s Basketball Team (UPMBT) IS ready to go all out in the men's basketball tournament of UAAP SEASON 82.

Let’s meet the boys who complete the UP Men’s Basketball Team for UAAP season 82. #UPFight #TeamAboveAll https://t.co/acLN2urgLy pic.twitter.com/G5ghg9jj6M

— UP Fighting Maroons (@upmbt) August 31, 2019

pic.twitter.com/zKRC505uWG

— UP Fighting Maroons (@upmbt) August 31, 2019

The team will try to again reach the finals this season after their Cinderella run last season. This is definitely one of the strongest line ups that UP fielded since their last championship in 1986.

Good luck UP MBT! #UPFight

FIFA 2022 WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS: AZKALS LINE UP FOR FIRST WINDOW REVEALED

The squad list for the upcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualifying games has been revealed by the Philippine Football Federation in their social media pages.

The team is a mix of veterans, comebacking and new faces for the Philippine side. Of the players called up, only 5 are playing locally - all from Ceres Negros FC. 12 players are playing in Thailand and others are playing club football in other parts of the world.

The players called up as posted in the The Azkals Twitter page:

#SquadList #OneBlood 🇵🇭⚽️🐺 pic.twitter.com/F5vx7H3pYT

— The Philippine Azkals (@TheAzkalsPH) August 31, 2019

Also, on paper, Azkals has a new head coach - Serbian Goran Milojevic and former coach Scott Cooper is now an assistant team manager. But some sources on Twitter days that Cooper is still head coach but he still does not have the Pro license required that Milojevic has.

The Philippines will first face Syria in Panaad Stadium in Bacolod on September 5, 2019 and they will face Guam in Guam FA field on September 10, 2019.

UAAP SEASON 82 : COURTSIDE REPORTERS REVEALED

The new batch of courtside reporters for the each of the eight members schools for the University Athletics Association of the Philippines' 82nd season has finally been revealed.

This batch is composed of 3 holdovers from last season and 5 new faces that will deliver news and scoops about each of the teams and their players from the sidelines during the televised basketball and volleyball games. In a tweet from the ABS-CBN Sports account, the eight courtside reporters this season are:

Adamson - Rain Matienzo
Ateneo - Frannie Reyes
La Salle - Aiyana Perlas
FEU - Mariz Domingo
NU - Baileys Acot
UE - Jaime Ascalon
UP - Yani Mayo
UST - Makyla Chavez

Your #UAAPSeason82 Courtside Reporters!

🦅 @franniereyess for Ateneo
💙 @rainmatienzo for Adamson
🏹 @itsaiyana for DLSU
🔰 @_marizdomingo for FEU
🐶 @_baileysacot for NU
🛡️ @JaimeAscalon15 for UE
✊ @itsYaniMayo for UP
🐯 @makylachavez_ for UST pic.twitter.com/qag43hJ2al

— ABS-CBN Sports (@abscbnsports) August 29, 2019

Reyes, Perlas and Chavez will be on their 2nd year as courtside reporters while all others are new faces. Matienzo, Ascalon and Acot will be doing their jobs as reporters for a different school as to where they are enrolled. Matienzo and Ascalon are from UP and will be doing the job for Adamson and UE, respectively while Acot is from UST and will be reporting for NU.

Good luck to this new batch of UAAP courtside reporters!

FOOTBALL: PHILIPPINE FOOTBALL WOMENS NATIONAL TEAM FALLS SHORT OF FINALS OF AFF WOMENS CHAMPIONSHIP

The Philippine Football Women's National Team falls short of advancing to the finals of the AFF Women's Championship in Thailand after losing to Vietnam, 2-1.

The Filipinas, who finished second in their group behind powerhouse Thailand, entered the semis of the competition for the first time and faced the winner of the other group - Vietnam. The loss is still impressive since Vietnam swept the group stage with an average goal difference of 7 goals. The one goal advantage is the slimmest margin of Vietnam's wins in the tournament.

The first goal was scored by the Filipinas through an own goal by Vietnam. Before halftime, Vietnam equalized, ending the half tied 1-1. In the second half, only Vietnam found the back of the net, scoring the go ahead goal and the win.

The Filipinas will face Myanmar, which was beaten by Thailand in the other semifinals match up, on August 27 for the bronze medal.

GILAS PILIPINAS: FINAL LINE UP FOR THE 2019 FIBA WORLD CUP ANNOUNCED

The final line up of the Gilas Pilipinas for the 2019 World Cup was announced yesterday after their last tune up match against the Adelaide 69ers of Australia. Coach Yeng Guiao  choose a mix of veterans and young blood to comprise the 12 players going to Foshan, China this week.

Only 5 holdovers from the 2014 World Cup team was picked - naturalized player Andray Blatche, Gabe Norwood, PBA MVP June Mar Fajardo, Japeth Aguilar and Paul Lee.

Also making the cut are players from the World Cup Qualifiers Raymond Almazan, Mark Barroca, Troy Rosario, Roger Pogoy and the comebacking Kiefer Ravena, whose suspension ended over the weekend. Two PBA rookies will wlso be debuting in the world cup - Robert Bolick and CJ Perez.

Our Gilas Pilipinas line-up for the 2019 FIBA World Cup is COMPLETE! 🇵🇭 #SBP #GilasPilipinas #LabanPilipinas #ParaSaBayan #PilipinasGotGame #FIBAWC pic.twitter.com/rtqXbDppbr

— SBP (@officialSBPinc) August 25, 2019

The Philippines will be part of Group D and will play the group stage at the International Sports and Cultural Arena in Foshan, China. The schedule of Gilas for the group stage is in the tweet below and will be shown live in ESPN 5:

Here’s the official game schedule of GILAS PILIPINAS for the upcoming FIBA WORLD CUP 2019 Group D against Italy, Serbia & Angola. GAME ON!! 🇵🇭👊🏻 #LabanPilipinas #PUSO #PilipinasGotGame #FIBAWC2019 pic.twitter.com/vUsBxC1j3s

— KuwentongGilas (@KuwentongGilas) August 19, 2019