Tennis and volleyball will be the main
sports events for our kababayans in the Washington DC
area this month of June, 2006 with volleyball as usual taking
center stage as it was during the past staging of the games.
Lovette Rosales Llantos who has been at the helm of this tournament has
confirmed her chairmanship for this year aside from handling Kart Racing .
(Lovette has been overall chair of the Festival for many years) The other
sports offerings are Golf, Football, Basketball, Bowling and
Kart Racing, which made its rousing debut in 2004 and mountain bike riding.
Making a big splash this year will be the
tennis tournament which has been streamlined to attune and make it more
relevant to present conditions. A tennis super body is now in place and a
super tournament is expected much to the delight of tennis diehards. This is a
result of recent developments that resulted in the unity and
cohesiveness of the different Filipino tennis groups in the Metro
DC area. Montgomery
County based Danny Francia of the Filipino American Tennis Association of
Maryland (FATAM) has carried the brunt of tennis activities . He he has
now a powerful ally in Ed Tiong, coordinator of the recently organized Fil-Am
Tennis of North Virginia. They will co-chair
the event.
The tennis tournament unlike in previous
years will be played indoors. The venue will be the Fairfax Racqet Club at Old Lee Highway in Fairfax Virginia
on June 24, 2005. It will be played on a Single knockout
elimination for Singles as well as for Doubles matches,
Straight 8/no ad scoring where tie break
plays apply under USTA rules and regulations.
The tournament is open to Filam team
tennis groups of 6 individuals per team who represent Fil-Am organizations,
non- Fil-Am groups, or Fil-Am business groups. The tournament is open to
everybody and is not limited to Filipino Americans. The tournament starts at
4:30 pm with a summer tennis block carnival party where there will be games
and prizes for children and teens The tournament proper starts at 7:00 pm and
the championship round starts 11:00 pm.
Community leader Nick Tongson who is back
as over all chair the 2005 Sports Festival disclosed that the Sports Committee
has been meeting regularly to iron out kinks in the many sports activities that
will ensure the smooth running of the huge undertaking. Tongson who announced
last March that June is just “around the corner” is now confident of a
successful staging as a result of early and detailed preparations.
Tongson, however disclosed that the ever
popular basketball may not be available as there are numerous tournaments going
on at that time of the year. There were also shifts in the chairmanships of
some sports as last year’s chairpersons were not available for various reasons
such as transfers and relocations.
The volleyball tournament is open to all
and will be on a round robin, single elimination.
It
will have 4 levels. AA- Highly competitive; A-Advanced: BB-Intermediate and B
–Recreational .
All volleyball games will be held at
Tucker Road Sports Complex in Tucker
Road, Fort Washington MD, during Family Picnic Day on Sunday
June 25, 2006. The overpowering aroma of exotic Filipino food will be wafting
all over the grounds as thousands mill around to watch the games or just hang
around to kibitz and make merry with their kababayans.
The Philippines’ surge to prominence in
international sports competitions continues as yet another good news lifted the
spirits of our sports loving kababayans The “Bugsay Boracay” rowing team
landed second place at the Shatin International Dragon Boat Race in Hong Kong,
recently..
The Filipinos were the first runner-up in
the competition that was won by the Chinese national team. An all-Filipina team
also came out as the event’s second runner-up, said Foreign Affairs spokesman
Gilbert Asuque, citing information from the Philippine consulate in Hong Kong. Team members plan to use their victory and
experience in the Hong Kong dragon boat
contest to organize a similar event in Boracay next year
Although rising star Rey (Boom Boom)
Bautista is not a world champion yet, legendary fighter Oscar de la Hoya, says
his ascent to the top is inevitable and predicts a long reign for the unbeaten Bohol teenager.
Bautista’s manager Tony Aldeguer
disclosed that plans for a title shot will be discussed after Boom Boom faces
Mexican veteran Alejandro Montiel in the Manny Pacquiao-Oscar Larios undercard
at the Araneta Coliseum on July 2.
Bautista, 19, is coming off a third round
demolition of Nicaraguan Roberto Bonilla at the Staples Center in Los Angeles
last May 20. It was Bautista’s first fight since signing a contract to be
represented by de la Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions. The win raised his record to
20-0, with 15 KOs. A bumper crop of talented
boxers is emerging as a result of Manny Pacquiao’s ring exploits.
Pacquiao is a natural when it comes to
PR. He seems to have an innate sense of doing or saying the right things at the
right time. Perhaps it is one of the reasons why he is so endeared by millions
of our kababayans and even foes. During a post fight interview after his
sensational TKO of Erik Morales, he humbly greeted the Mexican people as a sign
of goodwill and thanked his kababayans for their solid support and dedicated
his victory to them. Mabuhay ka Manny!
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