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Why Wuhan is at the center of the viral outbreak

By Shuli Ren

CHINA’S happiest city isn’t so happy these days. Wuhan, which branded itself as a Chinese version of Phoenix, is now the epicenter of a SARS-like virus that has sickened hundreds. It’s worth asking why this disease came out of an inland technology hub that boasts a young — and presumably healthier — workforce, rather than the mega-cities of Beijing or Shanghai.

Wuhan is an immigrants’ town. It’s home to one of China’s most prestigious engineering schools, the Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Roughly 9% of the population is university students, well above the 3% level for Beijing and Shanghai. As of 2018, more than 11 million lived there — making it 25% bigger than New York — but only 8.8 million are permanent residents.

AN IMMIGRANTS’ TOWN
As a result, millions living in Wuhan have been traveling for the Lunar New Year. During last year’s festival season, the city’s main railway station, which is only one kilometer from the seafood market where the outbreak began, hosted 5.5 million commuters. While China suspended all railway travel and flights out of Wuhan on Thursday, much of the traveling may have already been done. The engineering school, for instance, started its winter break on Jan. 9.

Wuhan has been carefully fostering a reputation as an alternative to Shenzhen. In its latest five-year plan, the city set a target of keeping 1 million college graduates by relaxing its hukou system, the equivalent of a green card that entitles holders to social services such as public-school education. Roughly 21 million travelers passed through the city’s airport in 2016, and a new terminal can host 35 million a year. Chinese society has become a lot more mobile since the SARS epidemic of 2003.

The high volume of labor migration isn’t to blame, however. A city may well expand in size, but basic public services must keep up, too. Take a look at Wuhan’s fiscal spending. While money has poured into hot areas such as technology research, expenditure on public health has been stagnant. As recently as last June, Wuhan residents complained about poor hygiene at the seafood market, but the municipality didn’t respond. While Beijing and Shanghai host lots of migrants, too, both cities spend more on this sector. Populations there have flattened amid restrictions on labor inflows.

Granted, money is tight for local governments as the economy slows, especially after last year’s $300 billion tax cut. As a result, bureaucrats have to make a tough decision between grants to chip designers and public health. The former serves President Xi Jinping’s Made in China 2025 drive, while the latter minimizes black swan scenarios.

The temptation, unfortunately, is that local officials embrace China’s industrial ambitions. It’s a lot easier to make a plan for the future than fix the past. After all, the Chinese have had a taste for exotic animal meat for centuries; why should we worry about the hygiene of a wet market now? Until this mentality is cleansed, however, we can only expect more outbreaks.

 

BLOOMBERG OPINION

Democracy-mongers should face up to an ugly reality

By Pankaj Mishra

WE LIVE in an era of political earthquakes; but the Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s defense of her country’s ethnic-cleansers before the International Court of Justice at The Hague last month still came as a shock.

Not so long ago, Suu Kyi was hailed as an icon of democracy in the West. Her apostasy now adds to the growing sense that democracy is in danger worldwide.

The mood is certainly bleak at The Journal of Democracy, the house periodical of one of the Beltway institutions promoting democracy around the world. Writing in its 30th anniversary issue, Francis Fukuyama claims that we are living through a “‘democratic recession,’ with reason to worry that it could turn into a full-scale depression.”

This jeremiad then opens out to denunciations of various “authoritarian populists” today, and to vague hopes of “rebuilding the legitimate authority of the institutions of liberal democracy.”

As in many such dirges these days, it is never asked: What and whose democracy?

History has continuously revealed democracy as the most radical idea of the modern world, which more often generates chaos than freedom. Yet the massive infrastructure of democracy-promotion that came into being during the Cold War assumed that it was a guarantor of political stability and economic progress: In other words, it delivered something that totalitarian communism could not.

Ignoring democracy’s tormented history, its ideologues naively reduced it to a magical formula, consisting mostly of elections, that can be applied to any political context and guarantee benign political outcomes.

Talking up the ideal of democracy abroad, they overlooked its daily violation at home, as a range of figures from Jawaharlal Nehru to Martin Luther King pointed out. (Abroad, too, avowed democrats expediently supported right-wing or military dictatorships from Congo to Iran, Chile to the Philippines.)

Of course, the boosters of democracy who aimed largely at securing a moral advantage against communism were assured of victory. Democracy-mongers, in retrospect, had it far too easy, ranged against regimes that were as inept as they were brutal.

Their sense of confidence could only inflate after communism collapsed, and history appeared, in Fukuyama’s own conception, to have reached a safe terminus in liberal democracy.

Even Samuel Huntington, Fukuyama’s mentor, set aside his profound reservations in the 1960s about America’s democracy-promoters, to hail a “third wave” of democratization.

Such was the complacent mood in 1990 — the year that The Journal of Democracy confidently started publication — that the old and deep problems of democracy that date back to the French Revolution seemed to have disappeared along with the enemies of the West.

But in the postcolonial world, the challenges of democracy had long been in plain sight.

The teachers of democracy in the West had accomplished high economic growth, partly with the help of imperialism and slavery, well before they began to gradually extend democratic rights to most citizens.

But Asian and Africans in the world’s poorest and weakest countries faced the task of instituting democratic rights simultaneously with economic development and political cohesion.

Moreover, the new nation-states in which democracy was meant to be implanted lacked some crucial ingredients. The people rather than a monarch or despot are supposed to be sovereign in a democracy. But in racially and ethnically diverse societies, potentially many peoples can claim to be the people.

Take, for instance, Iraq. Summarily “democratized” by the American military in 2004, a new “people,” representing the Shia majority staked its claim on power, provoking many among the previously regnant people, the Sunnis, into open and still ongoing rebellion, and another minority into secessionism.

For a long time, the promise of growth and general improvement kept many new and artificial nations from damaging struggles over power and sovereignty. In some countries liberated from foreign rule, such as Burma, pitiless local despots kept the lid on the many conflicts and contradictions of nation-building, democracy, and economic development.

The opening of this Pandora’s box in the third wave of democratization was always likely to plunge much of the world into a prolonged era of instability. Unshackled from great power rivalry, history since 1990 has accelerated crazily, and often calamitously derailed, instead of coming to rest in the terminus of universal democracy.

Even in countries with routine elections and peaceful transfers of power, such as India, uneven economic growth and high inequality have corroded the few democratic norms that existed.

In 2014, a demagogue rose to power in classic fashion by blaming minorities and immigrants; he is now busy boosting a new people, the apparently neglected Hindu majority, while relegating many Muslims to second-class citizenship.

Likewise, the politics of xenophobia in the United States and Britain against a background of stagnant wages and growing inequality has exposed a democratic deficit long covered up by Cold War moralizing and posturing.

It is clear now that, with governments shrinking social welfare and marketizing public goods, and moneyed special-interests entrenched in legislatures, many citizens became militantly disaffected with their political representatives and institutions, and vulnerable to demagoguery.

Bewildered by their punitive mood, democracy-mongers seek fresh self-validation and moral high ground, this time by counterposing democracy to “authoritarian populism” at home rather than totalitarian communism abroad.

This reheating of the Cold War’s moral oppositions and belated lamentations about “democratic recession” won’t do. The so-called populists, whether you like them or not, have been empowered through democratic processes. They represent, albeit in grossly distorted form, long suppressed and fundamentally democratic aspirations for freedom, equality, and dignity.

And they serve to remind us that democracy remains a radically destabilizing force, not a magical formula that, for all its repeated failures, keeps its vendors in stable employment.

 

BLOOMBERG OPINION

Nikko Huelgas aims to build on gains of athletes’ commission

By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter

ELECTED for a second term as an officer of the Philippine Olympic Committee Athletes’ Commission, bemedaled triathlete Nikko Huelgas said that he remains committed to helping the body fortify its structure and build on the gains it has achieved since being established in 2015.

Formed to have national athletes better representation in the decision making and direction of local sports affairs, Mr. Huelgas said the significance of having an athletes’ commission in the overall scheme of things of sports administration cannot be denied and that its existence should continue to be fostered so as to give the attention that athletes deserve.

“The Athletes’ Commission is very significant because it gives athletes like me a voice in the Olympic Committee. I can address my concerns, address my issues wherein if I have a question and have no one else to turn, I can go to the commission which would act as an advisory board,” said Mr. Huelgas, who served as chairman of the body from 2015 up to last year, in an interview.

“[With the commission] I feel more secured as an athlete that if something happens to me, someone can protect or help me because I believe the commission has enough leverage, with many people wanting to help (be they lawyers, corporate sponsors) to make Philippine sports progress,” he added.

Mr. Huelgas, a two-time Southeast Asian Games gold medalist, was elected for a second term as officer of the athletes commission in elections held on Jan. 11.

Voted in to the body as well were Olympic swimmer Jessie Lascuna, softball’s Cheska Altamonte, taekwondo jin Samuel Morrison and Philippine Volcanoes player and official Jake Letts.

Said officers are to serve from this year up to 2024.

TAKING ROOT
Chooks-to-Go-supported athlete Mr. Huelgas underscored that the thrust of the commission is steadily taking root and that it has come a long way from the slow pace it had at the start.

“I would say I’m 80% satisfied on how things went for us during my first term. I started in 2015 as the chairman. And out of the four people elected three of them were inactive in a span of a year. So from there I had to start from scratch. I had to walk alone. Good thing the executive assistant of the POC helped me and appointed one person [to come on board], Hidilyn Diaz, so it was the two of us. The year after, softball and karate became an Olympic sport so I was able to request for two more people — Cheska Altomonte (softball) and OJ Delos Santos (karate) — and from there we became a four-man team and we were able to create a working structure,” he said.

Adding, “And from there we started with the athletes’ career program in 2017, and in 2018 the athletes’ forum where for the first time we were able to meet almost all of the captains of the nationals teams.”

Having more active officers elected this time around, Mr. Huelgas said he is bullish of the organization growing further pushing forward.

“We have more options now that we are five as officers. In 2017 we had one project and 2018 three. In 2019 we had five projects. I think we have created the right structure to take cue from and we hope to have four to five projects this year,” he said.

One of the projects he is determined to push is a bigger athletes’ forum with more stakeholders and officials involved.

“The athletes forum we want it to bigger this year where the Philippine Sports Commission can make a presentation, the POC is represented and government officials like the Speaker of the House and one from Senate present. We want all the leaders there so the athletes can voice their concerns and have these addressed,” said Mr. Huelgas, who is also in the middle of training for competitions this year, including the Asian championship in Japan on April 25.

Kilimanjaro climb inspires Muguruza to scale Aussie peak

MELBOURNE — Having scaled Africa’s highest mountain during the offseason, former world number one Garbine Muguruza hopes to reach new heights at the Australian Open after suffering a tumble down the world rankings in 2019.

The Venezuela-born Spaniard made another determined push at Melbourne Park on Thursday, heaving herself out of a mid-match slump against Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic to reach the third round with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win in the early match at Rod Laver Arena.

The bright start at the year’s first Grand Slam follows a disappointing finish to a 2019 season which saw her dumped out of the first round at Wimbledon and the US Open.

The 26-year-old cut her season short, swapped her rackets for crampons and headed to Tanzania with a friend to climb 5,895 meter (19,340 feet) Mount Kilimanjaro, a five-day expedition in which she scaled cliffs, waded through icy rivers and passed bitterly cold nights.

“It was a very hard challenge, completely different to what I do,” Muguruza, now ranked world No. 32, told reporters at Melbourne Park.

“You’re climbing that mountain and it’s only you. You don’t get any award, any prize, any photo, any nothing up there.

“I really like the experience to see myself in the middle of nowhere and, yeah, just having one clear thought just to keep climbing.”

Once one of the tour’s most feared competitors and the only player to beat both Serena and Venus Williams in Grand Slam finals, Muguruza has gradually fallen off the radar.

Following her 2017 Wimbledon triumph, the second of her two major titles, Muguruza reached the semifinals at the 2018 French Open but has not had a deep run at the Grand Slams since.

Muguruza parted ways with her long-time coach Sam Sumyk in July and finished outside the world top 20 at the end of the season for the first time since 2014.

The new year began with a touch of pessimism as the former French Open champion pulled out of the Hobart International in the leadup to Melbourne Park with a viral illness.

The lack of match practice told as she lost the opening set 6-0 in her first round clash against qualifier Shelby Rogers before steamrolling the American.

Now re-united with former mentor Conchita Martinez, the first Spanish woman to win Wimbledon, Muguruza has yet to produce her vintage best in Melbourne but her fighting spirit was enough to deal with Tomljanovic.

“Like everybody, you work hard. You put the hours (in),” she said of her joy at the hard-fought win.

“Nothing is guaranteed, so you really appreciate the moment.” — Reuters

Rested Fajardo ready to get back to the PBA grind

By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter

GOT the chance to take a break for a considerable time, Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) superstar June Mar Fajardo said he is now ready to get back to the league grind and do his thing.

Found himself with more time to rest and relax after powerhouse San Miguel Beermen had their campaign abruptly ended in the quarterfinals of the PBA Governors Cup, the five-time league most valuable player said he spent the break collecting his thoughts and recharging in preparation for their return to action.

“I enjoyed the break I had. For eight straight years it was continuous basketball for me. I think this is one of the longest breaks I had from the game, at least one month. I just spent time relaxing and did not touch a basketball,” said Mr. Fajardo in the vernacular in an interview on the sidelines of the launch of the Philippines Yearbook 2020: The 50 Greatest Filipino Athletes on Tuesday.

Mr. Fajardo was included in the list of athletes selected for the excellence they showed in their respective disciplines as well as for serving as inspiration and making a difference off it.

He joined sports legends like Manny Pacquiao, Paeng Nepomuceno, Efren “Bata” Reyes, Paulino Alcantara, Gabriel “Flash” Elorde, Phil Younghusband, Eduard Folayang and Robert Jaworski in the list of athletes feted at the Sheraton Manila in Pasay City.

The Compostela, Cebu native said his inclusion in the list was further motivation for him heading into the PBA season-opening tournament Philippine Cup kicking off in March.

“This serves as further motivation for me. The goal for me as a player is to continue to improve and not be stagnant,” said Mr. Fajardo, who rejoined the Beermen in practice this week.

He said that with the way things ended for them last season, they are all the more determined to win a sixth straight All-Filipino title.

“We will prepare hard for the All-Filipino. We want to stay as All-Filipino champions. We were sad that we failed in our Grand Slam push last time around. But we are past that and this is a new season, new opportunities,” he said.

Mr. Fajardo also welcomes the addition of big man Russell Escoto from Northport and the return of veteran Arwind Santos to the team from suspension, seeing them as further shoring up their roster as they make a push in PBA Season 45.

Giants QB Eli Manning retiring after 16 seasons

NEW YORK — New York Giants quarterback (QB) Eli Manning is retiring after 16 NFL seasons, the team announced Wednesday.

“For 16 seasons, Eli Manning defined what it is to be a New York Giant both on and off the field,” co-owner, president and CEO John Mara said in a statement. “Eli is our only two-time Super Bowl MVP and one of the very best players in our franchise’s history.

“He represented our franchise as a consummate professional with dignity and accountability. It meant something to Eli to be the Giants quarterback, and it meant even more to us. We are beyond grateful for his contributions to our organization and look forward to celebrating his induction into the Giants Ring of Honor in the near future.”

Multiple outlets reported Wednesday that Manning will hold a press conference on Friday.

Manning, who turned 39 on Jan. 3, said after the regular season ended that he planned to discuss his future with family before making a decision. He said, “I think I can still play,” but added he didn’t see a future with the Giants, noting, “Being a backup is not real fun.”

Manning was benched after Week 2 of the regular season in favor of rookie Daniel Jones, a first-round draft pick who went on to start 12 games. Manning filled in for two starts in Weeks 14 and 15 when Jones was injured, winning his final start at home against the Miami Dolphins.

Taken No. 1 overall out of Mississippi in the 2004 draft by the then-San Diego Chargers, Manning said beforehand he would refuse to play for the franchise. He was traded to the Giants later on draft day in a deal that sent Philip Rivers back to the Chargers.

Manning went on to start 234 of 236 games over 16 seasons, all with New York. That included a run of 210 consecutive regular-season starts and 222 in the regular season or playoffs, streaks that rank third and fourth, respectively, among quarterbacks in NFL history.

A four-time Pro Bowler, Manning led the 10-6 Giants from a wild-card berth to a famous upset of the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII following the 2007 season, winning MVP honors. Four years later, he managed the feat a second time, also against the Patriots, with an inspired run through the playoffs despite a 9-7 regular-season finish.

Manning wraps up his career with a 117-117 record as a starter, having completed 60.3% of his passes for 57,023 yards, 366 touchdowns and 244 interceptions, with a passer rating of 84.1. His best season came in 2011, when he threw for 4,933 yards, 29 touchdowns and 16 interceptions while averaging a career-high 8.1 yards per attempt.

“We are proud to have called Eli Manning our quarterback for so many years,” co-owner, Chairman and Executive Vice- President Steve Tisch said in a statement. “Eli was driven to always do what was best for the team. Eli leaves a timeless legacy with two Super Bowl titles on the field and his philanthropic work off the field, which has inspired and impacted so many people. We are sincerely thankful for everything Eli has given our team and community. He will always be a Giant among Giants.”

The all-time leader in franchise history in virtually every passing category, Manning also ranks first in games played, 20 ahead of Michael Strahan. — Reuters

PBA: Rain or Shine gets new outfitter in Phenom

FOR the past four years, Rain or Shine has been experiencing a changing of the guard, turning younger and younger and embracing the next generation of cagers.

With this, the Elasto Painters have tapped a new outfitter for the 45th season of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) in Phenom Sportswear.

Certainly, this is the biggest break for the five-year-old brand so far and is a dream come true for Phenom President Jax Chua.

“We started Phenom Sportswear mainly because basketball is our first love and we wanted to be involved in the game in some capacity. In God’s perfect time and our team’s hard work and sacrifice, we were able to achieve our ultimate dream of someday making jerseys for a PBA team,” said Mr. Chua.

“And such a blessing that of all teams, we were given an opportunity with Rain or Shine, a perennial contender with a winning attitude despite always being the underdog which happens to share our company’s same ideals.”

For the past 12 years, Rain or Shine has been a model for PBA franchises, winning two PBA championships against a stacked field. This is the same journey Phenom has been going through in the sportswear industry.

“With the PBA’s strong following here and abroad, it solidifies our company’s reputation and challenges us further to continuously level up our quality and service. That is why we are so thankful to the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters for giving us this opportunity,” expressed Mr. Chua.

This upcoming season that begins this March, Phenom will not be making drastic changes in Rain or Shine’s kits, still sticking to a white, blue, and red theme. What Mr. Chua is guaranteeing is that his company will be incorporating new technology in the Elasto Painters’ pre-game kits.

“In the meantime, we will be sticking to their iconic design as their jerseys are one of the best-selling PBA jerseys with players such James Yap, Beau Belga, Gabe Norwood and Rey Nambatac,” disclosed Mr. Chua.

“But we will be incorporating new designs on their warmers and apparels which will be really exciting.”

US NCAA Division I coaches zero in on young talent

JUNIOR tennis players who joined the DreamBig Gold Series Tennis Camp at Manila Polo Club, Makati on Jan. 11 and 12, 2020 caught the eye of US NCAA Division I coaches.

Ezequiel Gils of Rice University, Rob Raines of Cornell University and Jesse Frieder from Boston University were more than pleasantly surprised by the Philippine tennis landscape when they watched the tennis players participate in the extremely intensive tennis training camp.

Twenty young tennis players were given the rare opportunity to be trained by the Division I Tennis coaches and underwent extensive, hands-on training that gave them an insight on of how US colleges run their athletic programs.

“Talent is everywhere. I’ve seen a lot of players who can play at a really high level if they just commit to spending time on the court and practicing. I can’t believe I’ve been missing out on the Philippines in terms of tennis. It’s a place a lot of coaches are missing out on and it’s certainly a place that I’ll keep in mind as I’m recruiting,” added Cornell University Coach Rob Raines.

The coaches were impressed with the campers and their eagerness to learn, with Boston U coach, Jesse Frieder specifically praising the student-athletes for their coachability. “The players here are very coachable, which leads me to believe that if they to end up in any of our teams, we could help them reach for the sky because they’re open to learning and improving.”

The coaches were particularly impressed with several of the country’s up- and-coming tennis sensations including, the 16-year-old son of former Olympian Bea Lucero — Sebastien Lhuillier — who participated in the camp. According to the coaches, almost all the players showed potential to play at the Division I level.

“Physicality and fitness are so important. It’s so easy to lose to somebody when they hit the ball harder than you because they’re bigger than you are. But if you consistently beat higher-ranked players while winning 3-set matches, you prove to us that you are really tough and gritty. We want to see you in more and more matches because it makes your UTR more accurate and it makes you a tougher tennis player. We want players in our team who are tough; who are not scared of pressure and not scared of the moment.” Coach Frieder said.

Overall, however, the coaches said it will take more than talent to compete at the world level. With resources becoming readily available, it will take proper mindset, grit, and support from the country for young players to dream big and achieve big.

“It’s more mindset than perhaps even resources. Having someone who is hungry as a child — and I mean hungry to learn — is crucial. We need somebody who wants to be better today than they were yesterday regardless of what their floor is, in terms of talent and athletic ability,” said Rice University Coach Ezequiel Gils

Akshay Maliwal, Founder and CEO of DreamBig Events said DreamBig is bringing in more camps and tournaments for tennis, golf and soccer this year, to give local junior athletes the opportunity to be discovered by Division I US universities coaches who can help them reach their personal goals and the country’s dream to have Filipino players compete at the international stage.

John Collins pours in 33 points as Hawks top Clippers

LOS ANGELES — John Collins scored 33 points, and reserve Brandon Goodwin scored all of his 19 points in the second half to help the short-handed Hawks erase a 21-point deficit and defeat the short-handed Los Angeles Clippers 102-95 on Wednesday in Atlanta.

Collins was 12 of 22 from the field and added 16 rebounds, matching his season high. It was his ninth double-double and third 30-point effort of the season.

However, it was Goodwin who came up with the big baskets down the stretch. He had a three-point play to give Atlanta a 93-91 lead with 3:56 left and made all three free throws after a three-shot foul to stretch the lead to 96-91 with 3:23 to go.

The Hawks also got 12 points and seven rebounds from Kevin Huerter plus 10 points and eight rebounds from Cam Reddish.

“Our competitive nature kicked in,” Collins said. “We turned it around, played selflessly, and good things happened.”

The Hawks were without leading scorer and floor leader Trae Young, a game-time scratch due to a right thigh contusion. Young, who averages 29.2 points, was coming off a 42-point, 15-assist night against the Toronto Raptors on Monday.

Los Angeles was led by Montrezl Harrell with 30 points and seven rebounds, but he made only 6 of 13 from the foul line and missed 5 of 6 free throws in the fourth quarter. The Clippers got 18 points from Lou Williams, but he was an uncharacteristic 0-for-7 from 3-point range. Landry Shamet scored 13.

The Clippers were playing without starters Kawhi Leonard (load management), Paul George (left hamstring strain) and Patrick Beverley (groin), but it didn’t seem to matter in the first quarter. The Clippers used a 20-0 run in the first quarter to take what appeared to be a commanding lead and led by as many as 21 in the second quarter. Los Angeles was ahead 60-41 at halftime.

Atlanta inched closer in the third quarter, outscoring the Clippers 28-15 to cut the Los Angeles lead to 75-69 entering the final quarter.

DAVIS, LEBRON LEAD LAKERS PAST KNICKS
LOS ANGELES — Anthony Davis scored a game-high 28 points Wednesday night for the visiting Los Angeles Lakers, who held off the New York Knicks 100-92.

Davis was 7 of 14 from the field and 13 of 13 from the free-throw line, matching his most conversions without a miss in a game this season. He also was 13 for 13 against the New Orleans Pelicans on Jan. 3.

LeBron James had 21 points and six rebounds, five assists and five steals for the Lakers, who won for the 11th time in 13 games. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (13 points) and Kyle Kuzma (10) each scored in double figures off the bench for Los Angeles.

Marcus Morris Sr. scored 20 points and Damyean Dotson came off the bench to add 17 for the Knicks, who have lost four of their past five and are 2-9 in a stretch beginning with a loss to Phoenix on Jan. 3. Julius Randle had 16 points and Taj Gibson 12 for New York, which got 12 rebounds from Mitchell Robinson.

The Lakers led 28-25 at the end of the first quarter before the Knicks opened the second quarter on a 12-2 run capped by consecutive 3-pointers by Dotson. James responded by scoring nine points in an 11-4 run that gave Los Angeles a 42-40 lead with 5:11 left in the second quarter. The teams were never separated by more than two points before winding up tied at halftime at 48.

Reggie Bullock’s 3-pointer 40 seconds into the third gave the Knicks their final lead at 52-50. A layup by JaVale McGee gave the Lakers the lead for good at 56-54 and keyed a 7-0 run by Los Angeles.

The Lakers scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter to open their biggest lead at 83-70. The Knicks got as close as six points twice in the final minute on two baskets by Randle, but Alex Caruso hit two free throws with 20.7 seconds left and New York’s last hope evaporated when Dotson missed a turnaround jumper 10 seconds later. — Reuters

WGM Frayna in Chooks-To-Go National Rapid Chess tourney

WOMAN GRANDMASTER (WGM) Janelle Mae Frayna will spearhead a strong cast clashing in the 3rd Chooks-to-Go National Rapid Chess Championships as it gets under way on Saturday, Jan. 25 at the Ayala Malls Manila Bay in Parañaque City.

Opening starts at 10:30 a.m.

The former Far Eastern University chess standout looms as the player to beat in the one-day rapid tournament owing to her recent achievement in the 2019 Manila Southeast Asian Games last December.

Ms. Frayna along with Woman International Master (WIM) Catherine Perena Secopito and Woman Fide Master (WFM) Shania Mae Mendoza pocketed silver in the women’s division chess team problem solving event (demonstration sports).

Other notable masters participating are IMs Ronald Bancod, Daniel Cuizon and Michael “Jako” Concio, Jr. and FM Christopher Castellano.

A top purse of P20,000 to the Open champion. The second to fifth placers will receive P10,000, P7,000, P5,000 and P3,000 respectively. Also on tap Executive, Junior and Kiddies division with the winner pocketing P12,000, P7,000 and P5,000, in order. — Marlon Bernardino

Eli Manning

It was, in retrospect, the only choice that made any modicum of sense for Eli Manning. Even though he pledged to thoroughly examine his options after finishing the current campaign with a win last month, he couldn’t but have known even then that retirement could no longer be put off. Not with his avowed refusal to continue serving as backup to a draft pick, and not with his best days long behind him. His father certainly thought so: Archie was, if nothing else, emphatic in declaring that he would never wear colors other than those of the Giants.

And so there was no surprise when Manning formally acknowledged his decision to hang up his cleats for good. There was no surprise, either, when the Giants — for whom he toiled all 16 years he played in the National Football League — made the announcement. It was typical of him to deflect the limelight, never mind his uncanny capacity to rise to the occasion when stakes were highest. Indeed, to argue that he finished with middling regular-season numbers would be to understate the obvious; his first eight years were great, and his next eight not so — leading to a neither-here-nor-there 117-117 record. Oh, but did he save his finest for the grandest stages; not for nothing did he twice lead the march to the championship against all odds.

To those from the outside looking in, the dichotomy may be striking. Manning never got close to being an All Pro selection, and yet has Super Bowl Most Valuable Player awards from the Giants’ 2007 and 2011 campaigns — a distinction accorded only a handful in the history of the league. And he earned it by beating the powerhouse Patriots, with Tom Brady, arguably the greatest of all time under center, on both occasions. Among others, his was the throw that led to the remarkable “helmet catch” during the game-winning series of Super Bowl XLII; the completion of a wild-card run to the top foiled a perfect season by the overwhelming favorites. And, among others, his were the passes that began a productive, if bizarre, final scoring drive in Super Bowl XLVI; his 296-yard, one-touchdown, zero-interception aggregates turned a 9-7 season into yet another triumph by the vast underdogs.

Clearly, Manning has reason to hold his head high. He thrived under extreme pressure, not often surrounded by talent while invariably subjected to intense scrutiny in the media capital of the world. Fellow Giants quarterbacks Phil Simms and Jeff Hostetler did so, too — but, really, he deserves to be named alongside such all-time greats as Joe Montana, Bart Starr, Terry Bradshaw, and, yes, Brady even more. He did his best and exceeded outsized expectations with a work ethic that underscored his refusal to give in to common thresholds. He played even when his body told him he shouldn’t have — and he gave his all every single time. Few can say the same, and fewer still while blessed with success.

 

Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and Human Resources management, corporate communications, and business development.

Cebu Pacific Hong Kong flight told to see doctor

CEBU PACIFIC on Thursday urged passengers of a Hong Kong-Manila flight on Wednesday to seek medical help if they experience flu-like symptoms, amid a coronavirus outbreak in China.

In an advisory, the carrier said it had been alerted to media reports in Hong Kong that four of its passengers on the flights might have been exposed to a person infected with coronavirus.

“All passengers and the crew aboard the flight were screened by the Bureau of Quarantine upon arrival in Manila, and none of them were held for further observation,” it said.

“Nonetheless, we are trying to coordinate with Hong Kong authorities to verify information in media reports,” it added.

The airline said that as a precautionary measure, passengers aboard flight 5J 111 should seek medical help if they exhibit flu-like symptoms including runny nose, cough, sore throat or fever.

“We have also disinfected the aircraft following our standard practice for all inbound international flights,” it said.

Cebu Pacific said passengers should postpone air travel if they feel unwell, and stay home for at least 24 hours after a fever subsides.

In a separate advisory, Philippine Airlines said it was also “closely monitoring” reports on the novel coronavirus even if it does not operate flights to and from Wuhan, the city where the virus was said to have originated.

The airline said it was coordinating with the Health department, Bureau of Quarantine and other health authorities “in taking sensible precautionary measures for the safety and protection of our passengers.”

This includes unobtrusive screening at specific airports.

PAL passengers were advised to follow preventive measures such as washing hands with soap and water and using alcohol-based hand rub.

Travelers should cancel their trips if they are experiencing symptoms such as respiratory problems, cough and colds, flu, high body temperature and shortness of breath, the airline said.

Airports worldwide have tightened security protocols after reports that hundreds in China have been infected with the deadly virus.

Senators on Wednesday asked the Health department and other agencies to draft an emergency plan after a Chinese boy in Cebu City tested positive for coronavirus, days after Japan and Thailand confirmed their first case of infection from a new strain that originated in Wuhan, China.

The virus, in the same family as the deadly severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), has killed at least 17 patients and sickened hundreds in China.

The boy tested positive for coronavirus but was negative for SARS and MERS, the Health department said on Tuesday.

Also yesterday, Justice Secretary Menardo I. Guevarra said the Bureau of Immigration (BI) had tracked down the family of the infected Chinese boy. Immigration and National Bureau of Investigation agents can find the people they have interacted with in the Philippines, he added.

Meanwhile the Health department said it had yet to determine the strain of coronavirus the boy was infected with.

“”The Department of Health wishes to clarify that it has yet to receive the confirmatory results for the five year-old boy under investigation for 2019-nCoV,” it said in a statement.

“As such, the child will remain as a person under investigation,” it added. Samples from the patient were sent to Australia for further testing.

World Health Organization (WHO) Philippines Country Representative Rabinda Abeyasinghe earlier said they were working with authorities in China, where majority of the cases occurred, to monitor the new virus strain.

Senator Nancy S. Binay on Wednesday filed Senate Resolution 293, seeking to inquire into the measures and funding requirements needed in case if an outbreak.

While coronavirus cases are normally transmitted from animals to humans, the new strain was said to have been transmitted between humans.

Health authorities have advised the public to observe proper hygiene and cough etiquette, including covering the mouth when one coughs or sneezes. — with C.A. Tadalan

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