Pacquiao, Sea Games, Yulo top newsmakers
Credit to Author: JEREMIAH SEVILLA| Date: Mon, 30 Dec 2019 16:17:23 +0000
Sen. Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao and athletes who brought pride and glory to the country were the top sports newsmakers in 2019.
title fight on July 20, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. AP FILE PHOTO
Members of the Philippine team that ruled the 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games and athletes who shone on the international stage were The Manila Times’ biggest winners in sports in 2019.
The country got back to the top of the SEA Games this year, claiming the overall championship with a medal haul of 149 gold, 117 silver and 121 bronze medals.
It was worth the long wait for Team Philippines as it topped the biennial meet 14 years after last snagging the overall title.
“We are thankful for all the sacrifices and hard work that went behind pushing their chances for a shining moment of victory,” said Philippine Sports Commission Chairman Butch Ramirez.
At the end of the regional competition, the Philippine flag shone the brightest among 11 nations.
Manny Pacquiao
The Filipino boxing legend once again defied Father Time this year.
At the age of 40, Pacquiao retained his World Boxing Association (WBA) welterweight title via a unanimous decision over the 29-year old Adrien Broner last January.
The lone eight-division world champion then silenced the brash 30-year-old Keith Thurman six months later in their WBA super welterweight title fight, scoring a split decision to become the oldest welterweight to grab a major belt in history.
“He’s a truly great, legendary boxer,” said Thurman of Pacquiao.
The fighting senator was nominated for the “Fighter of the Decade” and “Fighter of the Year” awards by the Boxing Writers Association of America while his match against Thurman was also shortlisted for the “Fight of the Year.” He previously got the “Fighter of the Decade” honors from the World Boxing Council for 2001-2010.
Carlos Yulo
Pint-sized gymnast Carlos Yulo rose to fame when he became the first male Southeast Asian to win a gold in the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships with his dazzling routine in the floor exercise last October in Stuttgart, Germany.
That historic performance made the teenage sensation the second Filipino athlete to punch an Olympic ticket.
“Last year, I was looking at my [bronze] medal and I was like, ‘I will get the gold medal next year,” said Yulo.
Yulo captured two gold and five silver medals in the SEA Games, emerging as the most bemedalled Filipino in the biennial meet to receive more than P3.2 million in cash incentives.
EJ Obiena
Coming back from an anterior cruciate ligament injury in 2017, pole vaulter EJ Obiena was the first Filipino athlete to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The 24-year-old Obiena vaulted his way to the Summer Games with a gold-winning jump of 5.81 meters in the Salto Con L’asta In Piazza Chiari in Italy in September — surpassing the Olympic qualifying standard of 5.80m.
Prior to that, Obiena set a new record in the Asian Athletics Championships with a gold-clinching 5.71m performance and also ruled the Summer Universiade with a 5.76m jump.
He capped his amazing year with a record-breaking 5.45m effort for his first gold in the SEA Games.
“It felt really good, amazing and just overall joy. The hardships along the way made it even better,” Obiena told The Manila Times.
Nesthy Petecio
Less than 24 hours into Yulo’s victory in Germany, the Philippines got another world champion in female boxer Nesthy Petecio.
Petecio nipped hometown bet Liudmila Vorontsova via split decision to seize the gold in the featherweight division of the 2019 AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships in Ulan-Ude, Russia.
The 27-year-old Petecio became the second Filipina fighter to win in the world tournament after Josie Gabuco in 2012.
Unsurprisingly, Petecio copped her first SEA Games gold after crushing Oo Nwe Ni of Myanmar.
Petecio and the rest of the Philippine boxing team now have their sights set on getting to the Olympic ring.