Karl Benedict Wood stepped up in a big way for the Philippine U-20 team as it withstand North America, 82-73, in the Pilipinas Super League (PSL) Global Championships on Tuesday, July 16, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.Wood exploded with 28 points as the Davao-NTB Wolves led opening-day in the PSL Global Challenge. Peter Adabo added 13 markers, Keith Marquez scored 12 while Most Valuable Player John Eimrod Rodulfa bucked an eight turnover night with 10 points.Joining the Philippines as opening day winner in the U-20 is Thailand’s Trail International School who brutally topscored over UK-Kampi Basketball, 106-72.Japher Kurihara and Don Wayde Basadre each tallied 27 points, with the former adding seven assists to spearhead Thailand’s explosive debut in the Pilipinas Super League’s flagship event.

The Philippine’s 22-man delegation is set to bring pride and glory to the country in the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympic Games, and fans will get an exclusive look at the athletes’ journeys through a new series of documentaries, starting Thursday, July 18.SMART Sports is set to release a four-part series entitled “Puso in Paris 2024” directed by Clev Mayuga.“I think our investment in the Olympics and in our athletes has a lot to do with our connection to these athletes. The main purpose of this series is to get to know them a little bit more so we can root for them, cheer for them, and be with them,” said PLDT and Smart Vice President Jude Turcuatco in an interview with Tiebreaker Times.The series opens with an episode on the Philippines’ golden boy artistic gymnastics, Carlos Edriel Yulo, who shares how this Olympics will be different after his struggles in last year’s Tokyo edition.The second episode, airing on Friday, July 19, will spotlight the boxers, including Tokyo 2020 medalists Nesthy Petecio and Eumir Marcial, and Aira Villegas, as they share how boxing has helped them rise from humble beginnings. The second part of the episode, meanwhile, centers on Tokyo 2020 Olympics silver medalist Carlo Paalam and first-time Olympian Hergie Bacyadan.The final two episodes will air the following Thursday and Friday, July 25 and July 26.The third episode will dive into the preparations of the first-time Olympian Vanessa Sarno, Elreen Ando, and John Ceniza and how they are upholding the legacy set by the Philippines’ first-ever Olympic gold medalist, Hidilyn Diaz.The series wraps with World No. 2 pole vaulter EJ Obiena, who is on a quest to fulfill a new dream of becoming an Olympic gold medalist.The Philippines first joined the Olympic games a hundred years ago. For this year’s Summer Games, the Philippines will be represented by 22 warriors aiming for the podium finish.“Puso in Paris 2024” will be available for free on the Smart Livestream App.

Strong Group Athletics continued its impressive start in the 43rd William Jones Cup, defeating the Brisbane South Basketball League (BSBL) Guardians of Australia 91-67 for its second win on Sunday, July 14, at Xinzhuang Gymnasium in New Taipei City.SGA cruised to a 2-0 win-loss card while keeping the Australians winless at 0-2.American import Chris McCullough once again led Strong Group pouring in 23 points and hauled down seven rebounds as the team remained on track in breaking a five-year title drought in the tournament.McCullough previously scored 15 points in Strong Group’s massive 107-49 victory over United Arab Emirates (UAE) on opening day last Saturday, July 13.Also standing out for the Philippines were Gilas naturalized big man Ange Kouame chipping in 16 markers, 10 boards and one steal while Tajuan Agee contributed 14 points, four rebounds and two steals.Meanwhile, Jesse Ghee paced the Australian team with his own double-double 19 points and 10 rebounds while Atem Bior scored with 14 markers.Strong Group will aim for its third win when it battles Ukraine on Monday, July 15.

The Philippine Sports Commission has begun the preparations for the 11th Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) Friendship Games scheduled in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan on December 1 to 5.The tournament aims to foster excellence and camaraderie in sports among young people in the sub-region.PSC commissioner Walter Torres on Thursday, July 18, assured the successful production of the games, which features athletics, archery, badminton, karate, swimming, sepak takraw, pencak silat, and e-sports.City Tourism Department (CTD) chief Demetrio Alvior Jr. said representatives from BIMP-EAGA visited the country last May to discuss the friendship games, as there are specific requirements that need to be met, particularly because most of the attendees will be Muslims.One of the requirements is halal certification, which Puerto Princesa City and Palawan currently do not have. However, according to Alvior, they are already taking measures to address this issue before the friendship games.“The only challenging part for us is accommodating those coming from Muslim countries since we don’t have a large halal restaurant here. However, we already have strategies in place to address this,”said Alvior.The CTD chief also mentioned that the federation handling the event initially wanted all food to be halal and uniformly served to all Muslim delegates, regardless of the hotel they are staying.“This is a significant and somewhat delicate event, but it is also a test to see if we are serious about advancing in sports. We need to participate in these major events to identify what we still lack and what needs improvement,” he added.Puerto Princesa City will host the BIMP-EAGA Friendship Games for the second time. The first was in 2003.Brunei Darussalam’s capital Bandar Seri Begawan played host in the last edition of the games.

University of the East high school fencers nabbed three golds for the Philippines in the Thailand Fencing Festival Minime and Veterans Championships 2024 held over the weekend at Diamond Hall in Zeer Rangsit, Thailand.Willa Galvez, who represented Canlas Fencing, captured two gold medals after dominating top seed Hei Shun Keung of Hong Kong, 15-8, in the finals of the Under-14 girl’s foil last Saturday, July 20.It was Galvez’s second gold medal in the same category in an international meet just seven months after her breakthrough victory in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.The incoming Grade 8 student also added gold on Sunday, July 21, the Under-14 girl’s epee with a nail-biting 15-13 win against Pawichaya Thongngaram of Thailand in the finals – her first epee gold on foreign soil after settling with a silver in Kuala Lumpur last year.On the other hand, Yuan Canlas bagged the gold medal in Under-12 girl’s epee on the final day of competition Monday, July 22, after beating Lena Xia of Singapore 10-5 in the finals.Canlas also earned two bronze medals (U-14 and U-12 foil) in the three-day tournament.The competition followed a tough training camp where Galvez and other Filipino fencers participated last week in Taiwan – a big help she said as it boosted her confidence after a weeklong process with some of the world-class fencers like former Olympian Ziemek Wojciechowski of Great Britain.“I am happy to win. It was perfect timing that after the Taiwan training camp we joined a tournament in Thailand. It gave me confidence and at the same time I was able to apply the lessons. I am grateful and thankful to all the UE and CF coaches led by coach Amat Canlans,” Galvez told Manila Bulletin in an interview.

Filipina rower sealed her place in the quarterfinals of the women’s single sculls after finishing first in the repechage round in the 2024 Paris Olympics on Sunday at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium.The 26-year-old rower topped her repechage heat with a time of 7:55.00 to ensure that she will finish in the top 24 in her very first Olympic stint.Vietnam’s Thi Hue Pham also qualified for the quarterfinals after she came in second behind Delgaco, finishing the race after 8:00.97. The top two in the heat would advance in the next round of the Olympic rowing competition.Delgaco improved on her performance in the heats, where she recorded 7:56.25 for fourth place as she missed a top 3 finish that guarantees an outright quarterfinal berth.The pride of Iriga, Camarines Sur has yet to show her best form, considering she registered 7:49.39 in the World Rowing Asian and Oceanian Qualification Regatta, becoming the Philippines’ first female rower to reach the Olympics.Cuba’s Yariulvis Cobas (8:10.64), Nicaragua’s Evidelia Gonzalez (8:26.23), and Togo’s Akoko Komlavi (8:43.11) missed the cut and got relegated to the semifinals E/F.Delgaco will take a one-day break before continuing her historic Summer Games campaign on Tuesday, July 30, for the quarterfinals at the same venue.

After heartbreaking losses from the women’s rowing and women’s judo, Kalya Sanchez kept the women's medal dream alive for the Philippines as she entered the semifinal round of women’s 100m freestyle in swimming.Sanchez swam to the top 16 with a time of 53.67, earning the country a slot in the semi-finals. She even ranked number four in heat 4.This is the second Olympic stint of Sanchez who previously represented Canada in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and won silver.The semifinals will be tomorrow, July 31, 3:25 a.m. PH time.

Carlos Yulo ranked 12th in the all-around finals of the men’s artistic gymnastics to cap off the first of his three medal events in the 2024 Paris Olympics at the Bercy Arena in France on Thursday, August 1 (Manila time).The 24-year-old gymnast, who is a three-time all-around gold medalist in the Southeast Asian Games, failed to land a podium finish by placing 12th out of 24 qualifiers with a total score of 83.032.Still, it was a remarkable performance for Yulo as he reached his first individual all-around finals of the Olympics – a far reach from the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games where he finished the all-around qualification at 47th place.Yulo showed significant improvements in the different apparatuses, highlighting his improvement from just being a floor exercise world champion in 2019.Yulo netted his highest score in vault with 14.766 points, then garnered 14.500 points in parallel bars and 14.333 points in floor exercise to bounce back from an unfavorable start that saw him fall during his pommel horse routine.Oka Shinnosuke of Japan bagged the gold medal with a total of 86.832.The 2020 Tokyo gold medalist Zhang Boheng of China failed to defend his crown, finishing second with 86.599 points.Zhang’s teammate, Xiao Ruoteng snatched the bronze medal with a close score of 86.364.Yulo will look to bring his upgraded routines, but with cleaner execution, in the apparatus finals of the floor exercise and the vault medal rounds on August 3 and 4, respectively.

Cignal executed a near perfect game to continue its dominance of Pool B in the 2024 Premier Volleyball League (PVL) Reinforced Conference on Thursday, August 1, at PhilSports Arena in Pasig City.The HD Spikers dismantled the struggling Petro Gazz Angels in straight sets, 25-19, 25-19, 25-22, bringing them close to sweeping Pool B with a perfect 4-0 record.This is also the HD Spikers’ best start in two years since the Invitational Conference in 2022 to secure their places among the top three teams.

Filipino hurdlers John Cabang Tolentino and Lauren Hoffman were unable to book an outright semifinals ticket and were relegated to repechage following the result of their respective events in the 2024 Paris Olympics athletics competitions at the Stade De Paris on Sunday, August 4.Cabang Tolentino marked his Summer Games debut after clocking in a time of 13.66 seconds, placing him sixth in the Heat 1 of the men’s 110 meters hurdles. Overall, he finished No. 32 among 39 hurdlers with Grant Holloway of the United States topping the race with his time of 13.01 seconds, showing readiness for his redemption campaign after nabbing silver in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.Meanwhile, Hoffman, a first-time Olympian as well, was also dropped in the repechage round of the women’s 400 meters hurdles after finishing 37th overall out of 40 participants with a time of 57.84 seconds, two seconds slower than the national record of 55.72 seconds she set in April.Only the top three racers in each five heats and the next three fastest advanced to the semifinals, with Tokyo Games bronze medalist Femke Bol of the Netherlands registering 53.38 seconds to lead the pack.Hoffman returns to action on Monday, August 5, for the repechage, while Tolentino will get one last shot at the semifinals which will be held on Tuesday, August 6.

Serbian tennis sensation Novak Djokovic has finally completed his career golden grand slam after winning the Olympic Games gold in Paris. He defeated Carlos Alcaraz of Spain in a tightly contested match and won two sets 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2) to earn his first Olympic gold.The 37 year-old and currently world’s No. 1 ranked tennis player joined Serena Williams, Rafael Nadal, Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf, who have won all four tennis majors (the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open) and an Olympic gold medal in singles.Djokovic has won the Australian Open 10 times, Tour Finals seven times, Wimbledon seven times, US Open three times, and French Open three times.He sealed the title with a forehand. After getting the gold-clinching point, he turned to his box with an outstretched arm, and threw his racquet to the floor in celebration after the match lasted for almost three hours.After the match, he hugged his opponent Alcaraz before bursting into tears and fell to his knee in the middle of the Paris' Court Philippe-Chatrier.Then, Novak unfurled the Serbian and went to the stands to celebrate the victory with his family and support.

Filipina fencer Samantha Catantan shared that she is set to take a break from the piste again after sustaining another anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury during the 2024 Paris Olympics.The 22-year-old Catantan announced the development on Monday, August 5, in an Instagram post, just a week after she concluded her campaign in the women’s foil event last July 28.

Arisa Trew, a 14-year-old teenager, made history after she shattered the 68 years of Olympic drought and became Australia’s youngest-ever Olympic medallist and the youngest gold medallist in the Summer Games.That record had stood for 68 years, going all the way back to Melbourne in 1956, when Sandra Morgan won the gold medal in the women's 4x100m freestyle relay.Morgan had been 14 years and 184 days old then – 94 days older than Trew.As the judges and audience graced her stunning moves in skateboarding, Trew won the gold medal at the Place de la Concorde in Paris, France. The 14-year-old young lady grinned as she popped out of the bowl, with her smile as striking as her statement hot-pink helmet.With her final go, Trew landed an imperious line peppered with 540s and a stunning front nose blunt on the box grab 180 out to finish.The teenage gold medalist scored 93.18 on her final run.Now, Trew says she expressed her desire  to compete in the L.A Olympics in 2028.

Filipino-Canadian Kayla Sanchez and Filipino-American Jarod Hatch, who both represented the country in the Paris Olympics 2024, will join the Philippine Aquatics Inc. (PAI) national trials this month at the Teofilo Ildefonso swimming pool of the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex. A total of 61 Filipino swimmers based abroad have signed up to join some 500 local hopefuls for a 50 meter (long course) and 25 meter (short course) swimming championships slated on August 15 to 18 and August 20 to 23, respectively.The national trials will be the basis for the selection of the national team members who will see action in the Aquatics World Cup series, the 46th Southeast Asian Age Group Championships and the World Aquatics Championships next year.Sanchez and Hatch banner the list of foreign-based hopefuls together with former Southeast Asian Games champion Chloe Isleta, junior standout Heather White, and Teia Salvino. 

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.   

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. 

Filipino Olympian and pole vaulter Ernest John “EJ” Obiena dropped to No. 3 in the world pole vault rankings after barely missing the podium in the recently concluded 2024 Paris Olympics.According to the latest report of World Athletics, Obiena dipped to world No. 3 with 1428 points after holding the second rank for more than a year.Silver medalist Sam Kendricks of USA took over Obiena’s previous spot with 1450 points.Armand Duplantis of Sweden, meanwhile, remained as the undisputed pole vault king owning 1617 points following his impressive Olympic and World records of 6.25m for the gold.Coming in fourth is Paris Olympics bronze medalist Emmanouil Karalis of Greece toting 1403 points, while KC Lightfoot of USA came in fifth even though he did not compete in the Summer Games.Making the top 10 are Paris Olympians Kurtis Marschall of Australia (No. 6), Sasma Ersu of Turkey (No. 7), Thibaut Collet of France (No. 8) Christopher Nilsen of USA (No. 9), and Huang Bokai of China (No. 10).

Tough battles await Gilas Pilipinas Women when they face the best teams in the world for the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup Pre-Qualifying Tournaments in Kigali, Rwanda slated from August 19 to 25.As part of their preparation, the Filipina cagers held a training camp in Baguio in which they competed against high school boys.

The Philippine men’s national basketball team jumped from rank No. 38 to No. 34 following its success during the Olympic Qualifying Tournament last July where they upset the host team and world’s No. 6 Latvia.The Philippines and Japan were the only teams who made a leap in Asia's Top 10. The other Asian squads dropped from one to three rankings from their previous positions.Japan moved up from No. 26 to No. 21 in the world rankings following their Paris Olympics stint.Meanwhile, the other Asian Top 10 who went down from their rankings were No. 7 Australia (-2), No. 22 New Zealand (-1), No. 28 Iran (-1), No. 29 Lebanon (-1), No. 30 China (-1), No. 35 Jordan (-3), No. 53 South Korea (-3), and No. 56 Saudi Arabia (-3).  Overall, Team USA still holds the No. 1 position while the former No. 4 Serbia took the second spot after its gritty Olympic stint.Germany remained at No. 3 while Olympic host France jumped five spots to become the world’s No. 4 ranked team.Canada went two spots up to get the No. 5 position while Spain fell four places from its previous No. 2 to No. 6.Asia’s top ranked team Australia got the No. 7 spot while Argentina stayed at No.8.Gilas’ OQT victim, Latvia went three spots down to be ranked as No. 9 followed by Lithuania to complete the top 10 in the world.

June Mar Fajardo bagged another trophy to his collection as he was named Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Most Valuable Player for the eight time.The MVP plum was given on Sunday, August 18 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum during the Leo Awards before the opening ceremony of the PBA’s 49th Season.Fajardo defeated his teammate CJ Perez and now Terrafirma’s Christian Standhardinger to be called the unprecedented eight-time MVP.The previous record that Ramon Fernandez and Alvin Patrimonio held for a long time was four. But when JMF broke the record and made it five, he continually improved to get one after another.