Private equity funds: Why resilience matters

June 24, 2021 | 8:13 pm

THE COVID-19 pandemic battered Southeast Asia’s economies in 2020 and sent private equity investors running for cover. Deal value fell 26% year over year and contracted 16% vs. the previous five-year average. In the Philippines, deal value fell 52% year over year and was down 50% over the five-year average. By contrast, private equity investors pushed deal value across the Asia-Pacific region to a record $185 billion, up 19% over 2019, buoyed especially by activity in China — the only country in the Asia-Pacific region to avoid a drop in 2020 GDP.

COVID-19 disruptions and the economic crisis of 2020 sounded a wake-up call for investors. Many general partners discovered in the midst of the pandemic that their portfolios weren’t sufficiently prepared to withstand and recover from sudden shocks. Adding to the dilemma, a decades-long fixation on efficiency has steadily increased risk. And around the world, trade wars, plunging oil prices, and financial crises have hit many companies harder than executives imagined possible.

As decades of relative global stability give way to a new, more turbulent era, leading funds are reviewing their exposure to a range of risks and investing to increase the resilience of their portfolio companies. Bain & Company research shows more than 60% of general partners investing in the Asia-Pacific region say they’re willing to invest at least 5% of a portfolio company’s short-term profit to build long-term resilience.

A few leading companies that were ahead of the trend highlight what a difference resilience can make in coping with external shocks. Indonesia’s PT BFI Finance, one of the country’s largest independent consumer credit companies, weathered the COVID-19 lockdowns better than many of its peers. The reason: A year earlier, the company’s management, backed by investors TPG Capital and Northstar, had embarked on a plan to strengthen the company’s strategic and organizational resilience.

One particularly effective measure improved loan collection by using a call-center collection agency to supplement field collectors’ efforts. These “telecollectors” helped the finance group reach out early to creditors who risked defaulting and, in some cases, avoid nonperforming loans. During the pandemic lockdowns, the remote-collection strategy offered a safe and vital alternative to in-person collection, allowing the company to minimize defaults. Despite widespread economic disruption caused by lockdowns, the group’s nonperforming loans declined during the pandemic. In September 2020, nonperforming loans declined to 2.7% for total financial assets, down from 3.7% in June — and significantly lower than the market average of 5.2%.

Many companies, however, were caught off guard by COVID-19. The majority of general partners we surveyed (58%) say their portfolios proved to be only somewhat resilient or not really resilient during the COVID-19 shock. One-third say they lack the specific tools to assess the resilience of a target. Close to one-third say their portfolio companies are still in the experimental or even earlier stages of building resilience capabilities into their strategy and operations.

By their nature, risks are moving targets, so building resilience requires a long-term effort and focus. But the benefits are significant: Improving a company’s resilience can almost double its chances of survival and improve cost-effectiveness over time. Many business leaders make the mistake of assuming that resilience is all about shoring up the balance sheet. They focus on the risks associated with leverage and liquidity, but ignore other potential sources of fragility.

Successful leadership teams take a holistic view of resilience. That means identifying every kind of external event that can affect the business. They also consider simultaneous events across multiple channels that could compound the extent of a shock. A broader, more encompassing view of both risk and resilience allows leadership teams to make smarter choices about where to invest limited resources to protect the company from future shocks.

In fact, resilience spans five dimensions: strategic, financial, operational, technological, and organizational. Strategic resilience, for example, includes revenue and profit diversification, relative market share, and demand elasticity. Operational resilience includes supplier concentration and redundancy.

Companies may be able to address some risk factors quickly and inexpensively, but an effective approach to building resilience usually requires investment and opportunity cost. The key is striking the right balance between managing risk and value creation. Leaders begin by analyzing their exposure. They determine how much stress the company can absorb and the fund’s willingness to trade off short-term profitability for long-term resilience.

Asia-Pacific general partners cite three areas of portfolio risk that they worry about most: competitive position, balance-sheet risk, and organizational agility. Addressing these risks may require more investment. General partners rate other categories of risk such as portfolio concentration, operational leverage, and cybersecurity as less difficult to tackle.

Resilience is a strategic issue. Investors and senior managers need to be involved, because decisions to build resilience involve difficult choices. Baring Private Equity Asia helped HCP Packaging Group, a global leader in the design and manufacture of cosmetics and skincare, build resilience by backing a plan to add new production sites and diversify its customer base. Those moves made a big difference when the US–China trade war hit global supply chains and when COVID-19 struck.

HCP started investing in 2018 to expand its international manufacturing footprint beyond China and North America, with production acquisitions in France and Germany. When the China–US trade war broke out, HCP quickly shifted part of its China production to other countries. Similarly, as COVID-19 lockdowns began, HCP was able to make the most of its expanded manufacturing footprint and supply chain flexibility, outmaneuvering the competition.

Leading fund managers and executive teams seeking to strengthen resilience make sure they tackle the no-regrets actions first — those with minimal impact on profitability. But they also understand that significantly reducing risk entails investment and opportunity cost. Developing the right level and type of resilience for a portfolio company demands a combination of short-term actions and long-term vision and alignment with the executive team.

Usman Akhtar and Alessandro Cannarsi are partners with Bain & Company. They are both based in Singapore.

New troubles for Thai leader amid virus surge, fresh protests

June 24, 2021 | 7:34 pm

Thailand Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha attends an event in Bangkok, Thailand Nov. 27, 2020. — REUTERS/CHALINEE THIRASUPA/POOL/FILE PHOTO

BANGKOK — A year after the start of student-led protests against Thailand’s military-backed government, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha is facing growing anger amid a mounting wave of coronavirus infections and a dismal economy.

This time, some of those calling for Mr. Prayuth to step down are his one-time allies.

On Thursday, three separate groups of protesters marched to demand the resignation of Mr. Prayuth, who first came to power in 2014 when, as army chief, he led a military coup against an elected government.

Several political parties in parliament — including two in Prayuth’s ruling coalition — are preparing to try to change the military-drafted constitution that helped keep him in office through elections in 2019, by allowing a junta-appointed Senate to vote for the prime minister.

Assuming the continued support of the military and Thailand’s powerful king, it is likely that the new push to change the political power structures will come to nothing again.

Still, frustration with Mr. Prayuth in particular has grown from last year, when it was mainly students calling for him to go.

“People have to come out now to clean up the dirt in our system,” said political activist Nittitorn Lamlua, who will lead a group of protesters in Bangkok on Thursday.

Mr. Nittitorn, 56, is a veteran of the “Yellow Shirt” movement of mostly royalist conservatives who protested against a succession of elected populist governments, the last of which was ousted when Mr. Prayuth seized power.

Mr. Nittitorn shares few views with the youthful student protesters of last year. In fact, he led a counterprotest to defend the king and the monarchy — seen as sacred institution by many conservative Thais — against the students’ call for curbing the king’s powers.

But Mr. Nittitorn ticks off a list of the prime minister’s faults: mismanagement of the coronavirus and the economy, inadequately defending the monarchy from calls for reform, plus failure to restore true democracy with the 2019 elections.

“My goals are all for nation, religion, monarchy and people and democracy, and it is this government that has pushed me to come out again, through their failures and their mismanagement,” Mr. Nittitorn said.

Government spokesman Anucha Burapachaisri said the government was willing to listen to criticism but the prime minister still had an obligation to run the country during the COVID-19 crisis and would only act in the best interests of the public.

“The government is trying not to be an opponent to any particular groups,” he said.

‘PRAYUTH IS THE PROBLEM’
On the opposite side of Thailand’s political divide to Mr. Nittitorn is Jatuporn Prompan, a former leader of the 2009-2010 populist “Red Shirt” movement supporting exiled former leader Thaksin Shinawatra, who Mr. Nittitorn protested against and who was ousted in a 2006 military coup.

“We see that Prayuth is the problem for the country, and he has to be removed,” Mr. Jatuporn said.

Thailand’s ongoing third wave of coronavirus — which has seen the most cases and deaths, reaching a record 51 deaths on Wednesday — has only fuelled anger.

“The public pressure is palpable, mounting and people want answers,” said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, political scientist at Chulalongkorn University and director of the Institute of Security and International Studies.

Still, he said, with the military and palace still behind Mr. Prayuth, it’s difficult to see how he could be removed.

The 2017 military-written constitution stipulates that the Senate, appointed by Mr. Prayuth’s former junta, votes for prime minister along with the elected House of Representatives, making it nearly impossible to remove him.

This week, parliament is debating amendments to that constitution.

Along with opposition parties, even two members of Mr. Prayuth’s ruling coalition — the Bhumjaithai and Democrat parties — favor changes that would remove the Senate’s right to vote for prime minister. The next general election is due by 2023.

But changes to the constitution also require the Senate’s approval — and there is little chance the appointed body would vote to decrease its own power.

Support for Mr. Prayuth from his pro-army Palang Pracharat Party and the powerful military appeared to be unshaken despite the increasing pressure from elsewhere.

Another sign of trouble for Mr. Prayuth might be if King Maha Vajiralongkorn were to express disapproval of his leadership, though Thitinan says rumors of that have proven untrue.

“There are no signs for me at this time that the palace backing has been withdrawn,” Thitinan said.

“We are kind of stuck with Prayuth indefinitely, until the next election.” — Reuters

FDA to add warning about rare heart inflammation to Pfizer, Moderna vaccines

June 24, 2021 | 7:33 pm

THE US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Wednesday it plans to move quickly to add a warning about rare cases of heart inflammation in adolescents and young adults to fact sheets for the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines.

US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advisory groups, meeting to discuss reported cases of the heart condition after vaccination, found the inflammation in adolescents and young adults is likely linked to the vaccines, but that the benefits of the shots appeared to clearly outweigh the risk.

Moderna shares closed down 4.2%, while Pfizer fell 1.4%.

Health regulators in several countries have been investigating whether the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna shots using new mRNA technology present a risk and, if so, how serious.

The CDC said that patients with heart inflammation following vaccination generally recover from the symptoms and do well.

The US Department of Health And Human Services, joined by leading US doctors groups and public health officials, put out a statement underscoring that the vaccines are safe and effective and that the heart side effect is “extremely rare.”

“We strongly encourage everyone age 12 and older who are eligible to receive the vaccine under Emergency Use Authorization to get vaccinated,” it said.

Doctors and hospitals have been warned by the CDC to watch for symptoms of myocarditis or pericarditis, and the FDA warning will further raise awareness.

Concerns about the more highly transmissible Delta coronavirus variant taking hold in the United States, and its impact on younger people, have added to the urgency to increase vaccinations even as the inoculation effort here has slowed considerably.

The number of Americans receiving their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine is down about 85% since peaking in mid-April, and will likely fail to meet President Joseoh R. Biden’s goal to have delivered at least one shot to 70% of adults by July 4.

WARNING WARRANTED
“Based on the available data, a warning statement in the factsheets for both healthcare providers and vaccine recipients and caregivers would be warranted,” FDA official Doran Fink said at the advisory committee meeting. Mr. Fink, deputy director of the agency’s vaccines division, said the FDA expects to move quickly to add the warning after the meeting concludes.

The cases of heart inflammation appear to be notably higher in the week after the second vaccine dose and in males. The CDC identified 309 hospitalizations from the heart inflammation in persons under the age of 30, of which 295 have been discharged.

Dr. Tom Shimabukuro, deputy director of the CDC’s Immunization Safety Office, said in a presentation that data from one of the agency’s safety monitoring systems — Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) — suggests a rate of 12.6 cases per million in the three weeks after the second shot in 12- to 39-year-olds.

“We’re observing this in the younger age groups, mainly in people in the teens and early 20s, and observing it more in males, compared to females,” Mr. Shimabukuro said. “This effect largely kind of disappears once you get into these older age groups — individuals 50 and over.”

The CDC has been investigating heart inflammation cases mainly in young men for several months. The Israeli health ministry earlier this month said it saw a possible link between such cases and Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.

The CDC said it was still assessing the risk from the condition and did not specifically confirm a causal relationship between the vaccines and the heart issue.

It did, however, say that a much-higher-than expected number of young men between the ages of 12 and 24 have experienced heart inflammation after their second vaccine dose.

According to data from the US Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), there were 347 observed cases of heart inflammation in the week after the second vaccine dose in males aged 12 to 24. That compares with expectations of 12 or fewer cases for males in that age range based on US population background incidence rates, the CDC said.

Pfizer, whose vaccine has been authorized for use in Americans as young as 12, previously said it had not observed a higher rate of heart inflammation than would normally be expected in the general population.

Moderna said it is aware of reports of heart inflammation cases following administration of mRNA vaccines. It said it is working with public health and regulatory authorities to assess the issue.

Over 138 million Americans have so far been fully vaccinated with one of the two mRNA vaccines, according to CDC data as of Monday. — Reuters

Apple Daily to live on in blockchain, free of censors

June 24, 2021 | 7:31 pm

HONG KONG — Hong Kong cyber activists are backing up articles by pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily on censorship-proof blockchain platforms after the newspaper was forced to shut down as it became embroiled in a national security law crackdown.

The latest drive to preserve the paper’s content comes after activists rushed to upload documentaries by local broadcaster RTHK investigating people in power after the media outlet said it would remove materials older than one year from its social media platforms.

Under the national security law, the Hong Kong government can request the blocking or removal of content it deems subversive or secessionist, raising fears over internet freedom in the global financial hub.

The Hong Kong government says use of the internet will not be affected as long as its use is within the law.

“Law enforcement actions taken by Hong Kong law enforcement agencies are based on evidence, strictly according to the laws of Hong Kong, and for the acts of the person(s) or entity(ies) concerned,” a spokesman for the Security Bureau said.

This year, the company that approves internet domains in Hong Kong said it would reject any sites that could incite “illegal acts.” Internet service provider Hong Kong Broadband Network (HKBN) said it had blocked access to HKChronicles, a website offering information about anti-government protests.

Fearing the security law could bring elements of China’s great firewall to Hong Kong, limiting access to dissenting views, 21-year-old Mr. Ho — who works in tech and did not give his first name because of the sensitivity of the matter — began this week to upload Apple Daily articles on decentralized file storage platform ARWeave.

After midnight, as the printers ran one final time, Apple Daily shut off its website and erased all its social media platforms after authorities froze company-related assets as part of a national security probe.

“I’m not doing this because I love Apple Daily, it’s what needs to be done,” Mr. Ho said. “I never thought that Apple Daily would disappear so quickly.”

Police froze assets of companies linked to Apple Daily and arrested five executives last week, moves that led to the newspaper printing its final edition on Thursday.

Authorities have said dozens of Apple Daily articles may have violated the security law, but there was no suggestion that Apple Daily content would be blocked or censored.

Similar to BitTorrent, ARWeave breaks down a file into bits of information distributed over an open network of anonymous computers around the world. On its website, it describes itself as a “collectively owned hard drive that never forgets.”

As of Thursday, more than 4,000 Apple Daily articles had been uploaded on ARWeave. Hundreds of RTHK programs dating back to 2012 are also available.

Another programmer, Kin Ko, 47, has been building a decentralized registry called LikeCoin. The blockchain platform helps internet users identify the metadata — creator, date, time, location, version — of the content through a unique number called an International Standard Content Number (ISCN), akin to a book’s distinctive International Standard Book Number.

Any changes made to the content would be known and tracked through changes to its digital fingerprint.

The digital repository is still in its beta phase and months away from launching officially. But online pro-democracy outlet Citizen News told Reuters it has already used LikeCoin to catalogue its images.

Mr. Ko’s initial idea was to create a platform that could authenticate any type of content, and did not expect his platform to be embraced so enthusiastically by pro-democracy activists.

But, he said: “History must not be determined by those in power.” — Reuters

Sydney faces ‘scariest period’ in coronavirus pandemic amid Delta outbreak

June 24, 2021 | 7:30 pm

SYDNEY — Australia’s most populous state, New South Wales (NSW), reported a double digit rise in new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 for the third straight day as officials fight to contain an outbreak of the highly contagious Delta variant.

“Since the pandemic has started, this is perhaps the scariest period that New South Wales is going through,” state Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney.

NSW has imposed tough restrictions in Sydney, Australia’s largest city and home to a fifth of the country’s 25 million population, with health officials saying transmission could be happening even through minimal contact with infected persons.

NSW officials have so far resisted calls for a hard lockdown although Australia has a good record of successfully suppressing past outbreaks through snap lockdowns, tough social distancing rules and swift contact tracing.

Australia has reported just under 30,400 cases and 910 deaths since the pandemic began.

Ms. Berejiklian said despite the virus variant being very infectious, her government was “at this stage comfortable” with the current level of restrictions.

Western Australia state premier Mark McGowan has urged NSW authorities to place the state in a lockdown to “crush and kill” the virus, warning “light touch” curbs could trigger a spike in infections. Western Australia has closed it border to NSW.

NSW authorities have imposed mandatory masks in all indoor locations in Sydney, including offices, restricted residents in seven council areas in Sydney’s east and inner west from leaving the city, and limited home gatherings to five to contain the state’s first outbreak in more than a month.

The state has been effectively isolated from the rest of the country after some states, like Western Australia, slammed their borders shut while others introduced tough border rules.

Eleven new local cases were reported on Thursday, taking the total infections in the latest outbreak to more than 40. Thursday’s data include six cases detected after the 8 p.m. cut-off deadline, which will be included in Friday’s tally.

NSW state parliament on Thursday released a restricted list of politicians allowed into the chamber after state Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall tested positive for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and Health Minister Brad Hazzard in isolation after he was deemed to be a possible close contact of a positive case.

Victoria state, which shares its border with NSW, on Thursday reported its first case likely linked to the NSW outbreak after a man in his 60s tested positive after returning home from Sydney. It reported another case earlier in the day linked to an existing cluster.

Queensland state reported three new local cases but officials said the infections pose low risk to the community as they were in isolation when they contracted the virus. — Reuters

Kaya FC-Iloilo advances to AFC Champions League group stage

June 24, 2021 | 7:22 pm

United City begins 2021 ACL campaign

By Michael Angelo S. Murillo, Senior Reporter

KAYA FC-Iloilo created history late Wednesday by barging into the group stage of the 2021 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League (ACL).

The Philippines Football League (PFL) staple defeated Shanghai Port FC of China, 1-0, in their playoff match at the Pathum Thani Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, to book its place in the main draw of the prestigious football meet for the first time ever.

It now plays in Group F of the ACL beginning on Saturday, where it will be pitted against champion squads BG Pathum United of host Thailand and Viettel of Vietnam, and defending Champions League titleholder Ulsan Hyundai of Korea.

With Kaya advancing, there will be two Philippine clubs representing the country in the 2021 ACL — the other is reigning PFL champion United City Football Club in Group I.

Kaya was aggressive right from the get-go of its match with Shanghai Port, driven by its desire to make a big impression in its first appearance in the tournament and go deep in the competition.

It did not take long for the team to break through, with Audie Menzi scoring in the 16^th minute off a pass from teammate Daizo Horikoshi for the 1-0 lead.

Jolted by its opponent’s score, Shanghai Port stepped up its play the rest of the way but Kaya’s defense would hold its own en route to preserving the victory and making its way to the ACL group stage.

“Group Stage Bound!!!” the team excitedly wrote on its official Fecebook page.

In the lead-up to its playoff match, Kaya brought in Englishman Graham Harvey as coach and signed new players Jarvey Gayoso, JhanJhan Melliza, Fitch Johnson, Daviz Arboleda, Ryo Fujii and Patrick Asare to join mainstays like Jovin Bedic, Marwin Angeles, Simona Rota and Louie Casas (goalkeeper).

It will be a short turnaround for Kaya though as it plays its first game in the group stage against BG Pathum United on June 26 in Bangkok.

Prior to making it to the AFC Champions League, Kaya played in the AFC Cup three times before and reached the Round of 16 back in 2016.

UNITED CITY BEGINS CAMPAIGN, TOO
Meanwhile, PFL champion United City begins its 2021 ACL campaign, too, on Saturday.

It takes on Beijing FC of China in opening Group I action at the Bunyodkor Stadium in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

United City played in the preliminaries of the ACL three times previously, then under the banner of Ceres-Negros FC, and this will be the first time that it will be seeing action in the group stage.

The team will be bannered by the likes of Stephan Schröck, Bienvenido Maranon, Mike Ott, Mark Hartmann and Justin Baas.

Also playing in Group I of the ACL are Daegu FC of Korea and Kawasaki Frontale of Japan.

No decision yet on fate of 2021 SEA Games in Vietnam

June 24, 2021 | 7:22 pm

Final decision on whether the 2021 Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam later this year would push through or be postponed was deferred for two weeks on the host country’s request.

In a virtual meeting on Thursday of members of the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games Federation, Vietnam asked for a 14-day extension, or until July 8, to make its decision on the biennial sporting meet’s staging.

“They [Vietnamese] are hesitant to make a decision,” said Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) President Abraham Tolentino, who attended the meeting which lasted for an hour.  

The idea to postpone the Hanoi Games was broached in a meeting of the SEA Games Federation two weeks ago by Vietnam.

It said it wants to have a postponement because of the new virus outbreak there, which has Hanoi and 11 other locations at the center.

The development, the host said, has hampered considerably its ability to prepare for hosting the best way it can.

During said meeting, the majority of the competing countries voted against the postponement.

They were the Philippines, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Timor-Leste.

Vietnam and Myanmar supported the proposal to postpone while Laos abstained.

The countries which wanted to push through, however, recognized that the final decision on the matter was still with the Vietnam government.

“We will respect the decision of Vietnam because we cannot do anything if they say the games are postponed,” Mr. Tolentino said.

The Hanoi Games is set for Nov. 23 to Dec. 2, with the Philippines intending to send 626 athletes who will be competing in 39 sports. – Michael Angelo S. Murillo

Pagunsan all in for Olympic bid

June 24, 2021 | 7:22 pm

Pagunsan-(2) — FILIPINO golfer Juvic Pagunsan is committed to represent the Philippines in the Tokyo Olympics. — NGAP

FILIPINO golfer Juvic Pagunsan is excited to compete in the Olympic Games in Tokyo next month and make the most of the opportunity presented to him.

The 43-year-old Pagunsan officially qualified for the rescheduled Games early this week, becoming one of the currently 15 Filipino athletes who have.

He gained qualification being among the top 60 players in the men’s rankings. Mr. Pagunsan is ranked at 49^th at the moment, built on solid showing in the professional circuit. He recently won the Mizuno Open in Japan.

“I am pretty excited to represent the Philippines. Who knows, we may get lucky in the Olympics,” Mr. Pagunsan wrote on a social media post.

Committed to the Olympics Mr. Pagunsan is, he will skip participating in the British Open set for early July to concentrate on his preparation for the Tokyo Games.

Mr. Pagunsan is one of three golfers the National Golf Association of the Philippines (NGAP) is expecting to see action in the Olympics this year.

The two are US Women’s Open champion Yuka Saso and Asian Games and Southeast Asian Games gold winner Bianca Pagdanganan, who are also in the top 60 in their division. Ms. Saso is at number nine and Ms. Pagdanganan at 42.

Golf will be played for the second straight Olympics in Japan. The Tokyo Olympics golf competitions are scheduled from July 29 to Aug. 7 at the Kasumigaseki Country Club. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

Diaz, Didal among weightlifters, skateboarders to watch at the Tokyo Olympic Games

June 24, 2021 | 7:21 pm

FIVE weightlifters to watch out for at the Tokyo Olympics:

LAUREL HUBBARD (NEW ZEALAND)

Hubbard is set to become the first transgender athlete to compete at an Olympics. She is ranked No. 7 by the International Weightlifting Federation for Tokyo 2020 and has qualified for the women’s over-87kg category.

LASHA TALAKHADZE (GEORGIA)

Talakhadze won a gold at the 2016 Rio Games, completing a snatch of 215kg and a clean and jack of 258kg in the men’s heaviest bodyweight category with a world record total of 473kg.

SHI ZHIYONG (CHINA)

Shi, who won the men’s 69kg gold medal at Rio, holds the world record in men’s 73kg class in the snatch, clean and jerk and total. He broke the snatch world record at the Asian Weightlifting Championships in April and set the other two records in 2019.

LIDIA VALENTIN PEREZ (SPAIN)

Perez will be competing at her fourth Olympics after winning silver, gold, and bronze from the last three Games. She has spent most of her two-decade career in the 75kg.

HIDILYN DIAZ (PHILIPPINES)

At Rio, Diaz became the nation’s first woman to win an Olympic medal by grabbing silver in the 53kg category. The Tokyo Games will be her fourth and she could become the Philippines’s first gold medalist.

Diaz, who made a public plea for financial support to continue her career in 2019, won a gold medal in the Southeast Asian Games in December of that year. She also won three gold medals at the Weightlifting World Cup event in Rome last year.

SKATEBOARDING

Five skateboarders to watch out for at the Tokyo Olympics:

NYJAH HUSTON (UNITED STATES)

A skateboarding prodigy who made his X Games debut when he was just 11, Huston is one of the most high-profile athletes in the sport with lucrative brand partnerships and more than 4.6 million followers on Instagram.

YUTO HORIGOME (JAPAN)

Yuto Horigome, 22, is ranked second in the world and won three out of four Street League Skateboarding (SLS) contests in 2018. Horigome grew up in Tokyo, but moved to California, the mecca of skateboarding, in 2016.

SKY BROWN (BRITAIN)

Twelve-year-old Sky Brown is expected to compete for Britain after recovering from a life-threatening fall last May.

KOKONA HIRAKI (JAPAN)

At 12, Hiraki is set to become Japan’s youngest athlete to compete in a summer Olympic Games. Hiraki is from Japan’s northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido and began skating with her father when she was just five.

MARGIELYN DIDAL (PHILIPPINES)

Didal, 22, made her debut at the 2018 X Games in Minneapolis and won gold at the Asian Games in the women’s street competition the same year.

Didal’s success has made her a national figure in the Philippines, where she started skating even though she had no access to a skate park or her own board.

Didal was selected as one of Time magazine’s 25 most influential teens for 2018 for her contributions to the sport. — Reuters

Yuka Saso ready for Women’s PGA Championship after meeting idol Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson

June 24, 2021 | 7:21 pm

YUKA Saso won her first major title before earning her Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour card.

Now that she has both under her belt, courtesy of her win at the US Women’s Open earlier this month, Ms. Saso — who just turned 20 on Sunday — is approaching the next major with a fresh mind-set.

“I don’t really expect anything,” Ms. Saso said on Wednesday on the eve of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. “I’m just more focusing on what I have to do with my game.

“I’m trying to improve every day to be a better golfer, to be a better person.”

Ms. Saso earned her LPGA Tour card with the victory at the Olympic Club. She has not played in the past two LPGA events, but did take a trip to San Diego for the US Open.

That’s where Ms. Saso got to meet Phil Mickelson and her idol Rory McIlroy, after whom Ms. Saso has emulated her swing. She now has her own video of McIlroy’s swing after walking three holes with him at Torrey Pines. Ms. Saso said she hasn’t counted how many times she has watched the video, but it’s “a lot.”

“He was very nice, and all the questions that I had, he answered me with honest(y), and I think he was very sincere,” she said. “And so, yeah, I was very happy that I was able to meet him.”

Ms. Saso said she did get to sleep with the US Women’s Open trophy for a night before returning it to the United States Golf Association to have her name engraved on it.

Her focus is now back on the golf course and how to attack the Atlanta Athletic Club in what Ms. Saso expects to be hot and humid conditions. It’s a good test for the tour’s most recent major winner as the former Japan LPGA star transitions to playing more regularly in the United States.

“I think I’m more focused now on playing here and I think improving my game more, learn from the best golfers here in the LPGA,” Ms. Saso said. “I think it doesn’t stop there, so I’ll just focus on what’s next for me and keep going.” — Reuters

Gilas Pilipinas expects tall order at FIBA OQT in Serbia

June 24, 2021 | 7:21 pm

GilasFive — GILAS PILIPINAS will be one of six nation-teams vying for the lone slot up for grabs in the FIBA OQT in Serbia for the Tokyo Olympic Games next month. — FIBA

GILAS Pilipinas left for Serbia on Thursday to compete at the Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) where it expects to encounter a tall order.

The Philippine national men’s basketball team will be one of six nation-teams vying for the lone slot up for grabs in Belgrade for the Tokyo Olympic Games next month.

The all-cadet Gilas crew is coming off a successful tour of duty in the third and final window of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Asia Cup Qualifiers in Clark, Pampanga, where it went unscathed in three games to complete a sweep of the six matches of the Philippines in the tournament.

While happy with the team’s performance in the Asia Cup Qualifiers, Gilas coach Tab Baldwin said the FIBA OQT will be a totally different challenge for the young team.

They are tempering their expectations in the tournament happening from June 29 to July 4, but that they are not short in desire to compete and learn from the experience over there.

For the OQT, Tab Baldwin-coached Gilas brought a 12-man roster composed of Dwight Ramos, Justine Baltazar, SJ Belangel, RJ Abarrientos, Will Navarro, Angelo Kouame, Mike Nieto, Isaac Go, Jordan Heading, Carl Tamayo, Geo Chiu and Kai Sotto.

Cut from the team for the tournament were Javi Gomez de Liaño, Jaydee Tungcab and Lebron Lopez.

The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas shared that the team composition was arrived at so as to have a taller lineup “with emphasis on frontline height and length” to better compete against the bigger teams in the OQT.

Gilas is in Group A along with host Serbia and the Dominican Republic.

As per the official FIBA website, Serbia is set to parade a team peppered with National Basketball Association players.

They include Bogdan Bogdanović (Atlanta), Nemanja Bjelica (Miami) and Boban Marjanović (Dallas).

The Dominican Republic, meanwhile, will have staples Michael Torres Cuevas, Gelvis Solano, Sadiel Rojas and Victor Liz.

Group B has Italy, Portugal and Senegal.

The Philippines will play Serbia on June 30 and the Dominican Republic on July 1.

The top two teams from each group advance to the crossover semifinals where the winners battle for the Olympic spot in the finals.

Prior to leaving for Serbia, Gilas played the Chinese national team, which is also playing in an OQT in Canada, in a tune-up game on Wednesday.

The two teams played to a 79-all draw.

Mr. Sotto led the way for Gilas with 13 points, followed by Messrs. Kouame and Heading with 12 apiece.

Messrs. Ramos and Tamayo sat out because of injuries. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

Ronaldo double rescues Portugal in dramatic draw with France

June 24, 2021 | 7:20 pm

BUDAPES — Cristiano Ronaldo came to Portugal’s rescue with two penalties to cancel out a brace from France’s Karim Benzema in an enthralling 2-2 draw that sent both sides into the Euro 2020 last 16 in a frantic conclusion to Group F on Wednesday.

An anxious night for the reigning European champions saw them occupy every position in the so-called group of death at various junctures but the 36-year-old Ronaldo, so often his country’s saviour, stepped up to reach another career milestone.

He had already become the highest-ever scorer in Euro finals with his double against Hungary in the opening game and his two spot-kick conversions — in the 31^st and 60^th minutes — took him to 109 international goals, level with the record number scored by Iran’s Ali Daei.

Benzema’s first was also from the spot as for the first time in European Championship history three penalties were converted in regular time.

The Frenchman, recalled by manager Didier Deschamps for the tournament after a five-year exile, equalized on the stroke of half time with his first France goal for five years and 258 days.

He put France ahead two minutes after the interval and with Hungary leading Germany at that point in the other game, Portugal were bottom of Group F and staring at the exit.

But Ronaldo coolly beat Hugo Lloris again from 12 yards and Portugal held on for the draw which means they finished on four points in third place and can now prepare for a last-16 clash against Belgium in Seville.

World champions France topped a crazy group with five points and will take on Switzerland in Bucharest.

“It was a fight and it wasn’t easy. We gave them the two goals from mistakes. We tried to win it,” said France manager Didier Deschamps, whose side were in danger of a last-16 clash with England at Wembley when they fell behind.

“It means we’re top and that’s the best position.”

EVERY SCENARIO
The Euro 2020 format has been criticized but there is no doubt that it produced a gripping night in which every conceivable scenario seemed to come into play.

Portugal needed only a draw to seal a last-16 spot but after bossing the first half with recalled Renato Sanches and Joao Moutinho commanding in midfield, they lived dangerously.

When the dust settled however, they will be in the business end of the tournament they won in 2016 by beating France.

Manager Fernando Santos was impressed with the way his side rebounded after the 4-2 defeat by Germany.

“When I was asked what we had to do that was different from the game against Germany and I said it was to be like ourselves,” he said. “We were strong, consistent, with a great spirit. We can continue to improve.”

Portugal were awarded a penalty in the 27^th minute after Hugo Lloris’s attempted punched clearance wiped out Danilo. Lloris was shown a yellow card before Ronaldo smashed the penalty into the corner.

Portugal began to swagger but they were pegged back when referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz deemed that Nelson Semedo had bundled over Kylian Mbappe on the stroke of half time as he tried to latch on to Paul Pogba’s pass.

Benzema buried the penalty and two minutes after the break he was picked out by the influential Pogba again and the Real Madrid striker slotted the ball past Rui Patricio.

But the game’s third penalty, awarded for a handball by Jules Kounde, gave Ronaldo the chance to beat Lloris again from the spot to register his fifth goal of the tournament and he was never going to miss.

Rui Patricio turned a spectacular Pogba effort against the woodwork seven minutes later but Portugal held on and got the added bonus of a late Germany equalizer that means they also avoided a last-16 meeting with England. — Reuters

1...7,4717,4727,473...13,821 Page 7,472 of 13,821