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| Dr. Jezreel Abarca, the chairperson of the UP-Min Department of Human Kinetics, underscored during the "Panahisgot" forum held last November 28, 2022 in Davao City the need for the establishment of the Mindanao Sports Development Program as a key to sustaining sports development programs in Mindanao. (Image Source: Philippine News Agency/University of the Philippines-Mindanao) |
The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), the University of the Philippines-Mindanao (UP-Min), academe and other government agencies convened in Davao City for a two-day event to push for sustainable sports development programs in Mindanao. In a forum dubbed "Panaghisgot", PSC project development officer Alona Quinto said the November 28-29 gathering seeks to address various concerns, particularly in the sports development programs on the island. “Mindanao was never a less priority of the PSC. They have a big part of the programs as we produced promising athletes from Mindanao,” she said in an interview.
Quinto said the forum would explain the framework of PSC Chairman Noli Eala as he focused on the grassroots program wherein promising athletes hail from the various local government units. “It is always partnership when it comes to developing athletes, Chairman Eala said we will never stop supporting, financially or on the technical aspect. That is the direction of PSC, to help the LGUs promote their sports program,” she said. As part of the effort, Dr. Jezreel Abarca, the chairperson of the UP-Min Department of Human Kinetics, underscored the need for the establishment of the Mindanao Sports Development Program. Abarca said a holistic program would provide accessible quality academic degree programs and produce culturally sensitive, gender-responsive, globally competitive graduates and sports specialists in Mindanao. “With this, we can also promote Mindanao-specific research for sustainable programs in sports development, sports science, sports education, physical fitness and well-being,” she said.
The program, she said, would also strengthen the sports programs of the Department of Education (DepEd), Commission on Higher Education (CHED), and local government units (LGUs) in Mindanao through sharing of technical expertise and facilities. Jimmy Musa, Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) development management officer and focal person for Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) Sociocultural and Education (SCE) Pillar, said his office commits to support sustainable sports development in Mindanao, particularly in the context of BIMP-EAGA sub-regional cooperation. “We have been playing a key role in coordinating and facilitating the participation of sports athletes and players from various Mindanao LGUs in the BIMP-EAGA Friendship Games since 1996,” he said. Currently, he said MinDA has provided technical inputs to the terms of reference of the creation of the Youth and Sports Development Working Group as the third strategic priority sector of the BIMP-EAGA SCE Pillar.
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Congress Of PH Aquatics, Finswimming Association Forge Agreement
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| Officials from the Philippine Finswimming Federation, Inc. (PFFI) and Congress of Philippine Aquatics, Inc. (COPA) show copies of the agreement for the formation of a competitive team for the 2023 Cambodia SEA Games during the 1st COPA-Samahang Manlalangoy sa Pilipinas Christmas Friendship Swimfest held at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex swimming stadium in Malate, Manila on December 10, 2022. (L-R) COPA member Chito Rivera, finswimming national coach Mary Ann Reyes, COPA head Eric Buhain and PFFI president Maria Tatjana Claudeene Medina (Image Source: Philippine News Agency) |
The Philippine Finswimming Federation, Inc. (PFFI) and the Congress of Philippine Aquatics, Inc. (COPA) forged a partnership to form a competitive team for the 2023 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games. The Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was signed by PFFI president Maria Tatjana Claudeene Medina and COPA president and Batangas 1st District Representative Eric Buhain during the 1st COPA-Samahang Manlalangoy sa Pilipinas Christmas Friendship Swimfest held last December 10, 2022 at the Teofilo Ildefonso swimming pool inside the Rizal Memorial Sports Center in Malate, Manila. The signing ceremony was witnessed by COPA officials Chito Rivera and Richard Luna and national finswimming coach Mary Ann Reyes.
Medina thanked COPA and Buhain for giving the national finswimmers to undergo high-level training. "We’re happy and excited. With Cong. Buhain and the rest of COPA’s expertise, this will have a good result to our athletes," Medina said. Buhain, an Olympian and many-time SEA Games medalist, sees the partnership as "another milestone in our effort to unite all leaders not only in swimming but in the aquatic sports community". "We need to help each other for the success of sports. We’re grateful for the opportunity given to COPA by the PFFI,” added Buhain, a former chairman of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) and the Games and Amusements Board (GAB).
Under the agreement, COPA will call a national tryout, train, select and recommend athletes to be included in the national team comprising four men and four women who will compete at the Cambodia SEA Games. The Philippines won the gold medal in the women's 50-meter surface event courtesy of Danielle Faith Torres and the bronze medal in the men's 4x100-meter relay team of Franz Baacom Leonard Sabellina, Matthew Rodriguez and Mike Godoy during the 2011 SEAG in Indonesia.
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Enkh-Orgil Baatarkhuu Wins "Road To ONE: Mongolia" Season 1 And US$100,000 ONE Championship Contract
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| Road To ONE: Mongolia Season 1 Winner Enkh-Orgil Baatarkhuu (Image Source: Philippine News Agency/University of the Philippines-Mindanao) |
ONE Championship™ (ONE), the world’s largest martial arts organization, in conjunction with Steppe Link Holding, recently concluded a successful first season of Road to ONE: Mongolia that saw bantamweight Enkh-Orgil Baatarkhuu win a US$100,000 ONE Championship contract. The 10-episode reality series featured two teams of the region’s top mixed martial artists competing for the opportunity to earn a spot on ONE’s roster culminating with a pair of on-ground live events in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
Baatarkhuu, who defeated Bat-Ochir Batsaikhan with a walk-off, one-punch knockout in the finale at Steppe Arena, was named the Season 1 winner of Road to ONE: Mongolia. ONE Championship Vice President and mixed martial arts (MMA) legend Rich Franklin presented Baatarkhuu with the prestigious six-figure contract. Franklin also awarded a “Warrior Bonus” to fellow competitor Davaajamts Batsuren for his submission victory during the finale. “This was one of the best and most professionally run editions of the Road to ONE series that I have witnessed, and I’m very excited for Enkh-Orgil’s future. He is a special talent and a very deserving winner, and I expect him to make waves in ONE Championship," Franklin said.
“I felt so many emotions after I won — happiness, fear, hope. But at the same time, I felt a great responsibility – a responsibility not to disappoint ONE Championship, the people of Mongolia, and the people who believe in me,” Baatarkhuu said. ONE Championship will expand its search for the next greatest MMA superstar across the region with Road to ONE: Central Asia in 2023.
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Casares, Alcoseba Rule National Duathlon Championships In New Clark City
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| Gold medal winner Filipino-Spanish Fernando Jose Casares (center) with silver medalist John Chicano Leerams of Olongapo City (left) and bronze medalist Maynard Pecson of Baguio City during the awarding ceremony of the men's elite category in the 2022 National Duathlon Championships at the New Clark City Sports Complex in Capas, Tarlac on December 4, 2022. Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) Senior Vice President for Corporate Services Group Arrey Perez awarded the medals. (Image Source: Philippine News Agency/Joseph Razon) |
Filipino-Spanish Fernando Jose Casares lived up to expectations after ruling the sprint distance men's elite category of the 2022 National Duathlon Championships at the New Clark City Sports Complex in Capas, Tarlac last December 11, 2022. Born in Madrid to a Spanish father and a Filipino mother, the 2021 Vietnam SEA Games gold medalist Casares finished the 5,000(run)-20,000-(bike)-2.500(run) race in 58 minutes and 3 seconds to beat fellow national athlete John Chicano Leerams of Olongapo City (58.09) and promising duathlete Maynard Pecson of Baguio City (58.13). "I'm glad I had a good performance here," said the 26-year-old Casares, whose mother is from Valenzuela City. He got his dual citizenship in 2018. Casares had competed at the World Games in Alabama, USA last July. He also won the mixed relay gold medal with Chicano, Kim Mangrobang, and Clair Adorna at the 2019 Manila SEA Games.
In the women's category, Cebuana Raven Faith Alcoseba clocked 1 hour, 6 minutes and 32 seconds to claim the gold medal. "The course was challenging, I'm happy to win," said the 20-year-old civil engineering student from De La Salle University. She debuted in the 2021 Vietnam SEA Games with a bronze medal in triathlon. The 5-foot-2 Alcoseba, who hails from Talisay in Cebu, defeated Singaporean Louisa Middleditch (1:07.10) and Merry Joy Trupa of Tarlac City (1:08.50). Matthew Justine Hermosa, also a native of Talisay, registered 1:01.46 to pocket the gold medal in the junior elite men's category of the tournament organized by the Triathlon Association of the Philippines (TRAP) headed by Tom Carrasco Jr. Irienold Reig Jr. of Batasan Hills in Quezon City took the silver medal with a time of 1:02.40 while Aidan Reed Mercado, a grade 12 student from Muntinlupa National High School, settled for the bronze medal with a time of 1:03.24. The top three winners in the junior women's elite category were Jena Valdez (1:11.35), Lady Samantha Jhunace (1:11.39) and Sophia Kyra Capistrano (1:14.49).
Meanwhile, Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) Senior Vice President for Corporate Services Group Arrey Perez appreciated the feedback from the participants of the race supported by the Philippine Sports Commission. "They are happy that the event was held here. The set up was very nice. The venue was really world-class," said Perez, who served as mayor of the 2019 SEA Games Athletes Village inside the New Clark City Sports Complex. The National Duathlon Championships is part of the selection process in choosing the athletes who will compete at the 2023 SEA Games in Cambodia.
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International eSports Federation Concludes Largest And Most Diverse World eSports Championships
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| 2022 International eSports Federation (IESF) World eSports Championship Closing Ceremony in Bali, Indonesia (Image Source: PR Newswire/International eSports Federation) |
The International eSports Federation (IESF) recently concluded the 2022 World eSports Championships after ten days of thrilling competition with interactive programming and a spectacular Closing Ceremony in Bali. Over 600 athletes representing 105 countries competed at the WE Championships, the most nationalities ever represented in an eSports tournament. The record US$500,000 prize pool was split among the winners of six games: CS:GO, DOTA 2, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB), eFootball 2023, Tekken 7 and PUBG Mobile. Host nation Indonesia won an unprecedented three of the seven games and was crowned the World eSports Champion.
IESF President Vlad Marinescu presented Indonesia with the WE Championships trophy and said, "Congratulations to Indonesia for becoming the World eSports Champion and to all of our medalists. We are extremely grateful to our hospitable host city Bali for sharing IESF's values of respect, friendship and unity and supporting our mission to unite, support, and empower the international eSports ecosystem. eSports' growth is unparalleled; together, we have broken barriers and made history." Indonesia's passion for eSports energized every competition, with enthusiastic fans cheering on all of the action. The nearly 500 hours of fierce competition surpassed 10 million views, reached more than 3 million views on TikTok and 185.4 million impressions across all social media platforms. IESF also took a significant step towards creating more opportunities for women in eSports and crowned Poland the first-ever women's CS:GO tournament champion during the WE Championships.
The 2022 edition of the WE Championships marked the largest and most geographically diverse installment of the event in its 14-year history. During the Closing Ceremony, Bali officially handed over hosting rights to Iași, Romania, for the 2023 WE Championships Finals. The event is set to feature over 800 athletes from 130 nations and engage a new generation of eSports fans to continue the historic growth of the World eSports Family.
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Global eSports Federation And VOV Gaming Level Up Community Gaming
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| (Image Source: InsideTheGames/Global eSports Federation) |
The Global eSports Federation (GEF) has formed a partnership with VOV Gaming, part of Savvy Games Group, as Global Supporter. Founded with aims of building communities, developing well-being outcomes, and innovative initiatives in gaming and eSports, VOV will lead in establishing a Community Gaming Council at the GEF through the partnership – CONNECT powered by VOV.
VOV Gaming will work with the GEF to jointly establish the Community Gaming ecosystem – developing platforms that will enable community-to-community gaming competition in the GEF’s #worldconnected ecosystem. “We are excited to welcome VOV Gaming to the Global eSports Federation family. We look forward to working together to rally the community and grassroots into our #worldconnected ecosystem through active and sustained engagement,” said GEF Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Paul J. Foster. The partnership will focus on three key areas – launch the Community Gaming Council (CGC) where grassroots venues will have a platform to engage and help shape the international community agenda. Their voices will be transmitted through the GEF’s core Athletes, Players, Community Commission. Secondly, the GEF and VOV will work to activate international venue-to-venue competitions to help accelerate the strengthening of the whole ecosystem while actively seeking to identify and develop global eSports talent.
“VOV is proud to join the Global eSports Federation to harness the endless possibilities and realize the potential of gamers and eSports athletes worldwide by offering global platforms for them to compete, learn, and socialize. We will work together with the GEF and its Member Federations to bring physical eSports and events to communities including at VOV’s unique venues,” said VOV Gaming CEO Jerry Gamez. The partnership is also aimed at delivering purpose in the area of health and wellness through a series of initiatives that will level up the Performance+ wellness initiative which is supported by international football athlete Cristiano Ronaldo. These initiatives will also be geared to deliver on the key objectives of the GEF’s participation in UNESCO’s Fit for Life flagship.
