wushu delivers philippines' first 3 medals in the 2013 asian games

athletes from the martial arts of wushu started team pilipinas' medal harvest by garnering 2 silvers and 1 bronze.

the philippines' first medal in the games was a silver medal from daniel parantac in the men's taijiquan and taijijian event. he scored a total of 19.26 points behind the chinese athlete who scored 19.55 points. vietnam took the bronze.

parantac was only able to get 9.58 points in the taijijian event in the morning. it was good for an 8th place standing out of 14 athletes. he then came back in the afternoon with a strong taijiquan routine and was awarded 9.68 points. he placed second and his score was good enough for a silver finish over-all.

here is daniel parantac's performance in the 2014 asian games:

in the afternoon, francisco solis was not able to compete in the semi-finals match in men's sanda -56kg category due to injury. from some reports, it was an injury that he got from the training in china and worsened during the competition. he settled for a bronze medal finish.

just this afternoon, young wushu athlete jean claude saclag bowed down to his chinese oponent in the finals of men's sanda -60kg category. saclag, who was wishing for a gold medal on the eve of his 20th birthday, settles for silver.

hope this is the start of the philippines' harvest of medals in the 2014 asian games.

congratulations to the wushu athletes! laban pilipinas!

video is from: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbvklyf6TGk

pilipinas wins most valuable fan in the 2014 fiba world cup

despite going home after the group stages, the filipino fans are still declared the best fans in the recently concluded 2014 fiba world cup. this is based on the online games and votings and the social media buzz generated by the fans in support of their national team with the hashtag: #spain2014

here is a short video played during the halftime of the championship game between usa and serbia, paying homage to the filipino fans:

congrats pilipinas!

nu wins the 2014 uaap cheerdance competition, up and ust gets podium finish

the national university got its 2nd uaap cheerdance trophy after winning yesterday before a jampacked araneta coliseum. with its wolves-themed routine, the nu pep squad executed their routine flawlessly. the up pep squad with the equality theme got second place and the ust salinggawi dance troupe placed third with their chinese inspired routine.

nu got a total score of 677.50 points; up got 658 points and ust got 625 points out of a possible 800 points. here are the performances of the winning schools:

national university - nu pep squad

university of the philippines - up pep squad

university of santo tomas - ust salinggawi dance troupe

congratulations to the winners!

videos are from the official youtube channel of abs-cbn sports + action : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzrdtk6p4SaakMz2ZmOkCQQ 

2014 fiba world cup: gilas pilipinas versus argentina

gilas pilipinas suffered another heartbreaking loss, now in the hands of the world's number 3 team - argentina, 81-85.

the philippines actually started strong, leading in the first quarter up to the start of the 2nd quarter. argentina then held its ground and lead as much as 15 points early in the fourth quarter. the filipinos did not give up and eventually caught up and was down by only 2 points during the last minute of the game. unfortunately, several missed shots and errors later, argentina escaped with the win.

ranidel de ocampo posted 18 points, leading the team but it was the heroics of jimmy alapag that kept us in the game. his leadership in the court is unmatched and he delivered 5 crucial 3 point shots in the second half. gabe norwood also showed his great defense and got two magnificent dunk shots, one even on the face of argentina's nba veteran, luis scola.

here are the highlights of the game:

gilas needs to win both of its final two assignments in the group round. it will face puerto rico on september 3 7:30pm and senegal on september 4 8pm (manila time).

we still have hope to advance to thr round of 16. let us all pray for gilas pilipinas. laban pilipinas!

video is from fiba's youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJLRmewbkeY&list=UUtInrnU3QbWqFGsdKT1GZtg

2014 fiba world championship: gilas pilipinas versus croatia

having been absent in the international basketball scene for almost 4 decades, filipino fans started the gilas pilipinas campaign with modest expectations but high hopes. making it to the world cup is an achievement itself and seeing the local PBA heroes side by side with the world's best is simply unbelievable.

but nobody expected what happened in their first game versus croatia...

croatia, who is ranked number 16 in the world, is expected to top the group b of the group stage. in fact, some websites bpredicted at least a 31 point victory over the philippines. but with pure heart and guts, the gilas pilipinas forced the game into overtime at 71-all after 4 quarters before eventually losing after the 5 minute additional time, at 81-79.

nobody expected this to be this close, i think this is the biggest surprise of day 1. gilas pilipinas made a statement last night that they might have been a virtual unknown entering the  tournament but they will fight with all heart. that was really an impressive debut by the philippines.

here are the game highlights from the fiba youtube channel:

philippines will be going against greece tomorrow early morning at 2am, then argentina at 11pm (manila time).

video is from the fiba youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOwuJtXXe04&list=PLCXERy73Oiz_dZlx-PgDDaW7393y6ngL8

meet the cast of the 25th season of the amazing race

cbs announced the new cast of the silver season of the amazing race. this season 11 teams of 2 will be racing around the world and they are:

• adam and bethany, married surfers
• dennis and isabelle, dating couple
• brooke and robbie, couple / professional wrestlers
• keith and whitney, engaged couple
• kym and alli, friends / cyclists
• lisa and michelle, sisters / realtors
• maya and amy, friends / scientists
• michael and scott - friends / firefighters
• misti and jim, married dentists
• shelley and nici, mother & daughter
• tim and te jay, dating couple

notable contestants are bethany, the one-armed surfer who survived a shark attack; and whitney and keith who previously appeared in survivor south pacific and eventually became a couple after the show.

here is the meet the cast video from the official youtube channel of the show:

the show also had its first public starting line in las vegas earlier this year. they will also introduce a new twist, "the save". this will be awarded to the first team to finish in the first leg and will allow that team to save themselves from elimination. the show will also have a new timeslot (fridays 8pm) and will premiere on september 26 (september 27 in the philippines).

ps - rumors is that they will be having 2 legs in the philippines! this is only the 2nd season that they will have pitstops in the philippines. the last time they were here were legs 11 and 12 in season 5 where they went to manila, cavite, laguna and palawan.

image is from : http://www.cbs.com/shows/amazing_race/photos/1002236/meet-the-cast/ 

video is from : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQK4imtNQmg

official song of the 2014 fiba world cup - sube la copa

here is the official video of the official song of the 2014 fiba world cup; sube la copa by huecco:

the video features gabe norwood, japhet aguilar and ranidel de ocampo of gilas pilipinas.

2 days to go before the return of the philippines to the world basketball scene! laban pilipinas!

video is from huecco's youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KP6g7GJdPhk