Give And Go
By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
(The Year 2018 is about to end and in hindsight, as a sportswriter, there were a lot of standout moments in Philippine sports to remember.)
The Year 2018 was also a standout year for female national athletes who made their presence felt in various international competitions.
This was clearly highlighted in the 18th Asian Games in the middle of the year in Indonesia where Pinay athletes accounted for 13 of the total 21 medals won by the Philippines, including the four gold medals.
Weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz led the impressive showing of the Filipino female athletes in the Games, winning gold in the women’s 53 kg weightlifting event.
She was then followed to a top podium finish by the women’s golf team and Filipino-Japanese golfer Yuka Saso who ran away with the top individual and team honors.
Providing another gold hardware was skateboarder Margielyn Didal who topped her event with much flare.
Judo’s Kiyomi Watanabe gave the country silver in the women’s 63 kg event.
Bronze medals, meanwhile, were provided by the women’s poomsae team, wushu’s Agatha Wong and Divine Wally, taekwondo’s Pauline Lopez, jiu-jitsu’s Meggie Ochoa, golf’s Bianca Pagdanganan, pencak silat’s Cherry May Regalado and karate’s Junna Tsukii.
Also having it good in 2018 was the Philippine women’s national football team, or the Malditas, which played well in the initial round of the Olympic Asian qualifiers to book a spot in the next round to be played later this year.
Combat sports made its presence felt in 2018 with our boxers and mixed martial arts fighters having it solid.
Filipino boxing superstar Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao was world champion anew by bagging the WBA world welterweight title with a spirited showing against erstwhile champion Lucas Matthysse of Argentina in July to win by technical knockout in the seventh round.
He is set to defend the same title against American Adrien Broner in Jan. 20 in the United States.
Jerwin Ancajas was a busy man last year, fighting three times, and remains as the IBF junior bantamweight champion.
In 2018, Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire seized the WBA super world bantamweight title while “Vicious” Vic Saludar became the WBO world minimumweight champion.
Just this Monday, New Year’s Eve, the longest-reigning Filipino world boxing champion Donnie “Ahas” Nietes added a fourth division title by bagging the WBO world super flyweight title with a split decision win over Japanese Kazuto Ioka.
In MMA, Team Lakay stalwarts dominated with four champions in ONE Championship and one in Brave CF.
Geje “Gravity” Eustaquio won the ONE world flyweight title in June before teammate Joshua “The Passion” Pacio grabbed the strawweight crown in September.
Kevin “The Silencer” Belingon, for his part, downed the unsinkable Bibiano Fernandes to win the bantamweight world championship.
Eduard “Landslide” Folayang, meanwhile, reclaimed the lightweight gold in November with Stephen “The Sniper” Loman retaining his Brave CF bantamweight title.
Filipino-American Brandon Vera, too, kept Filipino MMA rolling by keeping his ONE world heavyweight title.
As far as this writer, 2018 also saw me with some memorable interviews with star players in the Philippine Basketball Association and collegiate leagues.
I was able to talk to sports officials and stakeholders, both local and international, which helped a lot in me better appreciating the goings-on in the sports ecosystem.
International sporting stars I also had the privilege of talking to.
The nomination I got for Martial Arts Journalist of the Year from the 2018 Global Martial Arts Awards in Singapore was a cherry on top of what was a truly memorable year.
Thanks, 2018, and looking forward to another fruitful year of covering and writing in 2019. Cheers!
Michael Angelo S. Murillo has been a columnist since 2003. He is a BusinessWorld reporter covering the Sports beat.
msmurillo@bworldonline.com
