The Filipino MMA star Joshua Pacio is now making progress in his recovery from knee injury, and focusing on rehab.Pacio had to trust his doctors and therapist for him to get back on the saddle. “The therapy is going well, and I’m making progress,” he said. “It’s a process, but I trust it. It’s still a long road, but I’m devoted to coming back stronger.” Pacio saidAlthough Pacio also continues to keep an eye on the ONE strawweight division. He heard his name on the lips of his old rival Jared Brooks weeks after he celebrated his interim title win against Gustavo Balart at ONE Fight Night 24. Jared Brooks bagged the ONE interim Strawweight MMA World Title against Balart. Brooks is eager to fight Pacio again to cement his status as the division’s best and to win his old belt back, but the Filipino has personal reasons for wanting the trilogy.   

Filipino fighter Danny “The King” Kingad will now get a chance in moving up the flyweight ladder where he will collide the former eight time ONE Flyweight MMA World Champion Adriano Moraes in a rematch at ONE 169: Atlanta at the State Farm Arena on November 8. Moraes captured the flyweight MMA belt in 2014 after 16 thrilling fights in the world’s largest martial arts organization. The 36-year-old Moraes’ most recently completed his epic World Title trilogy with MMA GOAT Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson, first scoring a stunning knockout victory in April 2021 before losing the gold to “Mighty Mouse” via KO in August 2022.Then last May of this year  at ONE’s blockbuster debut on American soil, the Brazilian suffered a hard-fought decision defeat to Johnson in their highly-anticipated third contest.Kingad, however, is also looking to avenge his loss to Moraes in 2017 when the Brazilian submitted him in the first round of their title bout at ONE: Legends of the World in front of a hometown crowd at the Mall of Asia Arena.Likewise, Moraes is seeking redemption after his loss to Johnson which saw him lose his belt. The Kingad-Moraes rematch is part of a stacked card that features the return of two-division MMA world champion Christian Lee, as he defends his lightweight title against Alibeg Rasulov also on November 8, 2024. 

Three days after becoming only the second player to win back-to-back United States Golf Association (USGA) championships, Rianne Malixi soared to new heights, climbing to World No. 5 in the latest World Amateur Golf Rankings.The 17-year-old Malixi climbed seven notches from her previous 12th spot in the rankings, with an average of 1191.6600 points, after her victory in the US Women’s Amateur in Tulsa, Oklahoma over the weekend.This achievement marks the highest ranking ever reached by a Filipina golfer. 

Gymnast Association of the Philippines (GAP) chief Cynthia Carrion is planning to form an Olympic team that the Philippines will send to the LA Olympics in 2028 with the sibling of two-time gold medalist Carlos Yulo hopefully being included in the team. Carrion made a forecast and hoping that two Yulos’ will compete in the LA Olympics in 2028. She is referring to the 16 year-old younger brother of Caloy, Karl Eldrew, who has shown the same determination and promise that his elder brother showed on his sporting success. Karl Eldrew is now making his own name in the world of gymnastics and has already bagged gold medals from different international competitions.Eldrew, won a gold medal in the junior level of the Men’s Artistic Gymnastics Asian Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, as he reigned supreme in the vault last May of this year. He posted an average of 14.433 points, Yulo ruled the event for his first title in the continental showpiece after settling for silver in the previous edition in Singapore.

The Chery Tiggo Crossovers secured their place in the quarterfinals of the Premier Volleyball League Reinforced Conference after breezing past the winless ZUS Coffee Thunderbelles on Saturday, August 17, at the Mall of Asia Arena. The Crossovers bounced back from their previous loss to the Choco Mucho Flying Titans, improving their record to 5-2 and claiming solo fourth place after hammering the Thundebelles in a commanding straight-sets victory, 25-18, 25-18, 25-19.With the quarters in mind, coach Kungfu Reyes said they will try harder in training, which they expect to show in matches.

Capital1 ended the preliminaries of the 2024 Premier League Volleyball (PVL) Reinforced Conference on a high note after drubbing Galeries Towerson Tuesday, August 20, at FilOil EcoOil Centre in San Juan City.The Solar Spikers morphed into a legitimate contender in the PVL after winning against the Highrisers in four sets, 25-13, 26-28, 25-22, 25-21.

PBA Champions San Miguel Beermen and Meralco Bolts will banner the Home-and-Away Season 2 of the EASL season opener on October 2 at the Mall of Asia arena.Reigning PBA Commissioner’s Cup Champions San Miguel will be going against the Korean Basketball League (KBL) runner-up Suwon KT Sonicboom, while Philippine Cup champs Meralco will face the new team Macau Black Bears as the league opens its season on Philippines soil for the very first time.The group stage is scheduled from October 2, 2024 to February 12, 2025. Then, the Final Four championship weekend will be from March 7-9, 2025. Three more playdates will be held in the country.Another double header will be played on November 13 at the PhilSports Arena. It will feature the game between the Beermen against P.League+ runner up Taoyuan Pilots while the Bolts is scheduled to take on KBL’s champion, KCC Egis.On January 15, 2025, SMB will face another new team in Hong Kong Eastern Dragons Arena while Meracl will meet the B. League runner up Ryuku Golden Kings on the 22nd in the same Pasig venue.The EASL participants will be divided into two groups: Group A will be composed of Hiroshima Dragonflies, KT Sonicboom, Taoyuan Pilots, Hong Kong Eastern, and San Miguel Beermen while Group B will have the Ryuku Golden Kings, KCC Egis, New Taipei Kings, Macau Black Bears, and the Meralco Bolts.

Capital1 reinforcement Marina Tushova claimed her third Player of the Week award in the Premier Volleyball League (PVL), propelled by her record 50 points on Saturday, August 24.The powerful Russian winger delivered 47 attacks, two blocks, and a service ace, to go with 16 excellent receptions and 12 digs.She broke the all-time scoring record for the third time to earn the August 20 to 24 honor given by print and online reporters covering the PVL.Despite being responsible for a big chunk of Capital1’s success, the Solar Spikers failed to advance to the Cignal HD Spikers, 19-25, 34-36, 25-16, 25-22, 12-15, in the knockout quarterfinals of the Reinforced Conference at the FilOil EcoOil Centre in San Juan on Saturday, August 24.After her record-breaking performances here in the Philippines and following Capital1’s quarterfinal exit, Tushova is headed to Azerbaijan to play for a club team there.“I already signed a contract with an Azerbaijan team,” Tushova said. “I will join them and until April I will be there. Yes, so it is my plan now. I will go to another country.”Even as she heads to another country and another club this time around, Tushova is also not ruling out a potential return to the PVL. 

Filipina athlete Islay Erika Bomogao has claimed the top spot in the 45kg elite category of the International Federation of Muaythai Associations.Following her gold-medal victory at last year’s IFMA World Muaythai Championship in Bangkok, Thailand, Bomogao, soared to No. 1 position with a cumulative 1,920 points, amassed from her performances in various international competitions.

The Philippines concluded their stint after finishing third place in the women’s doubles of the Sunchang Open International Soft Tennis tournament in South Korea over the weekend.Team captain Bien Zoleta-Mañalac and Princess Catindig ended their campaign after they were overwhelmed by Koreans Lee Hangyeol and Kim Koeun in the semifinal round, 4-5 (7), held at Sunchang Public Stadium.On the other hand, the Philippine team will now proceed to Anseong City for the World Championships scheduled on September 3 to 9. The Soft Tennis Pilipinas are vying to surpass their previous medal tallies of three bronze medals coming from Josephine Paguyo in 1995, Joseph Arcilla in 2011, and Zoleta-Mañalac in 2015.

The Magnolia Chicken Timplados Hotshots and NorthPort Batang Pier will try to finish the first round of the double-round eliminations of the PBA Season 49 Governors’ Cup with a 3-2 slate when they face each other on Wednesday, September 4, 7:30 p.m. at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.The winner of the game will be over the 0.500 mark while the defeated team will have a record of 2-3 in Group A. The Hotshots and Batang Pier were grouped with TNT Tropang Giga, Meralco Bolts, Converge FiberXers and Terrafirma Dyip.After the game, the two teams will be on their way to the 2nd round robin which will start on Saturday, when the Hotshots face the Bolts in Panabo City.

The Philippines launched its campaign in the 2024 Baseball Federation of Asia or BFA XIII Under-18 Asian Baseball Championship with back-to-back wins at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium in Chinese Taipei on Tuesday, September 3.The U18 men’s baseball squad got off to a strong start with a 10-0 record win over Sri Lanka on Monday, September 2, then followed it up with a 4-2 victory over Hong Kong to stay unscathed so far in Group B. Laurence Valeros banked on his winning pitch to frustrate Sri Lanka as he struck out seven batters and yielded two hits in three and one-third innings. Meanwhile, Rinaldo Kyle and Brandom Sanchez notched the necessary runs to take charge and break the 2-2 score in the sixth inning against Hong Kong. Aron Jesse Manguiat then pounded out four in a five-inning, effectively giving the game to the Philippines.The Filipino batters will battle Japan in its remaining group assignment on Wednesday, September 4, with identical 2-0 win-loss records.The outcome of the match will decide the Philippines’ opponent in the Super Round slated September 6 and 7 with the medal matches set September 8.

After handily defending his title against India's Saurabh Kumar at the Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh, Cambodia lastSunday, WBC Asia super-bantam title Marlon Tapales aims to fight again and meet WBC/WBA/IBF/ WBO super bantamweight Japanese champion Naoya “The Monster” Inoue. Sanman CEO JC Manangquil said they will ensure that Tapales will remain active in boxing and hopefully  he may be able to fight someone again before the end of this year. Manangquil added that if one of the titles held by Inoue becomes vacant, he can go and fight for it. "Maybe if one of those titles becomes vacant from (Naoya) Inoue, we can fight for a world title. But we will keep Marlon active. Maybe another fight before the end of the year," said Manangquil.Right now, Tapales is busy rehearsing and preparing for a possible world title shot next year. May of this year, Tapales fought Nattapong Jankaew of Thailand where he won via KO in Pasay City, while in 2023, Tapales was defeated via KO by Japanese champion Naoya "The Monster" Inoue in the 10th round of their match in Tokyo, Japan. 

Far Eastern University earned its first win under Raiza Palmera-Dy’s mentoring after denying University of the East’s comeback attempt, 62-52, at the UAAP Season 87 Collegiate Women’s Basketball tournament at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Wednesday, September 18.The Lady Tamaraws held their ground despite missing Josee Kaputu, who suffered an ACL tear in her left knee during their game against National University last Saturday.FEU established a pivotal run of 43-21 at halftime courtesy of Maxene Dela Torre, MJ Manguiat, Shane Salvani, and Rea Ong, who combined for eight three-pointers as opposed to UE who missed all of their 11 attempts after grappling with their perimeter shooting. Despite stumbling in the first half, the Lady Warriors pushed through and withstood the might of their opponents in the fourth quarter, propelled through the efforts of Rachel Lacayanga, Dominique Vacalares, Kate Cruz, and Aliyah Ronquillo.It was almost but not quite for UE as their late-game surge proved to be too late when Salvani’s free throws with 13.1 seconds left sealed the victory for FEU. 

Being the number one team in the league right now, the TNT Tropang Giga was expected to dominate the winless Terrafirma but the Stanley Pringle and the Dyip have other plans.Pringle led the bottom team to upset the top team to notch their first win of the tournament, 84-72, on Thursday night at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.The shifty guard produced 15 of his total 18 points in the fourth quarter including 10 straight that inspired his teammates to give their best until the final buzzer.

Converge surprised the mighty Beermen once again as they dragged them to a winner-take-all showdown after having a 114-110 victory in Game 4 of their PBA Season 49 Governors' Cup quarterfinals match-up to tie the series on Friday night, October 4, at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.The FiberXers put the pressure on SMB by making clutch plays in the end including Bryan Santos' back-to-back triples that gave them a 101-95 lead in the home stretch.

Rain or Shine advanced to the semi-finals of the PBA Season 49 Governors' Cup after defeating Magnolia in the Game 5 of their grueling battle, 113-103, on Saturday night, October 5, at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.Andrei Caracut rose to the occasion by scoring six of his 14 points in the final two minutes of the game.Aaron Fuller produced his usual contribution by knocking 26 points and grabbing nine rebounds, while Jhonard Clarito and Adrian Nocum added 17 markers each.Leonard Santillan and Keith Datu were also vital in the Elasto Painters’ win as they chalked up 12 and 11 points, respectively.RoS head coach Yeng Guiao said that he is proud of how his young team fought against a veteran team like Magnolia.

National University ruled the UAAP Season 87 Cheerdance Competition, claiming its eight title overall with a breathtaking, space-themed performance on Sunday, December 1, at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.With NU capturing their eighth UAAP Cheerdance Competition crown, they are now tied with longtime first-placers University of the Philippines Pep Squad and University of Santo Tomas Salinggawi Troupe, solidifying the program's status as an all-time powerhouse in the highly-anticipated annual competition.NU Pep Squad’s gravity-defying, windmill-like stunts propelled the team to a runaway victory, dethroning Far Eastern University with a total of 713 points.Team captain John Paul Cabido credited his coaches for the concept and theme.

La Salle-EcoOil concluded its 2024 Spikers’ Turf Invitational Conference campaign with straight sets, 25-19, 25-22, 25-18, victory over VNS on Sunday, December 1, at the FilOil EcoOil Centre in San Juan.The Green Oilers missed out on the Final Four despite a strong start that included four straight victories."I said just enjoy it. It was somehow disappointing in a sense that we didn't make it to the Final Four, but I'm hoping that with all our losses, we have learned something," said head coach Jose Roque, reflecting on the team's campaign.

The Philippine Olympic Committee has officially suspended the Philippine National Volleyball Federation following the latter’s suspension by the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball, POC president Abraham Tolentino announced yesterday, Wednesday June 24.According to Tolentino, the suspension was unanimously approved during the POC Executive Board meeting held Monday in Parañaque City, noting that the move automatically follows the international federation’s sanction against its national member body.The FIVB suspended the PNVF effective May 29 under Article 13.1.1 of its Disciplinary Regulations. The sanction stems from serious governance concerns and multiple alleged violations currently being investigated by the independent FIVB Ethics Panel.Prior to the international suspension, the Philippine Sports Commission had already halted all funding for the PNVF, citing governance issues and non-compliance with policies governing financial assistance for national sports associations.Despite the suspension, the PNVF recently conducted leadership changes, removing TonyBoy Liao as president and naming businessman Frank Lao as his replacement along with a new set of executive board members.However, Tolentino declared the election invalid, stressing that the POC was not notified and did not send an observer to oversee the proceedings as required.“Their latest election, for the POC, is invalid—no notice to the POC and no observer from the POC,” Tolentino said.As a result of the suspension, the PNVF is barred from participating in all POC activities, including the General Assembly. The POC is also awaiting further action from the FIVB, particularly the recommendations of the Ad Hoc Committee tasked with overseeing volleyball affairs while the federation remains under suspension.The development adds another chapter to the ongoing governance crisis in Philippine volleyball as stakeholders await the outcome of the FIVB investigation and the future direction of the sport’s national governing body.