Blog Posts by Noel Zarate

THE ARENA, San Juan City—The gallant stand of the Adamson University (AdU) Lady Falcons came to an end as the steady play of Myla Pablo and Rubie de Leon allowed the National University (NU) Lady Bulldogs triumph in the last semifinal battle of the conference 24-26, 25-20, 25-15, 25-22 and book a finals date with defending champions Ateneo de Manila University (AdMU) before a capacity crowd here.

The patented Adamson floor defense worked in the early goings (Photo: www.v-league.ph)

WATCH THE WHOLE NU-ADAMSON GAME 3 BROADCAST HERE

The Finals begin on Thursday, May 23 at the MOA Arena in Pasay City.

NU’s 6’2” captain and MVP frontrunner Din-Din Santiago led all scorers with 24 as the Lady Bulldogs had to recover from a first set setback after leading by as much as six points, 11-5 and five points, 21-16 in the twilight. The Lady Falcons, behind a series of key blocks by captain Pau Soriano, newcomer Mylene Paat and veteran Faye Guevara along with the consistent cross-court bombs by Sheila Pineda showed incredible resilience to snatch the opener 26-24, and followed it up

MOA Arena, Pasay City — On a day of broadcast difficulties and superb volleyball, the National University (NU) Lady Bulldogs needed every ounce of strength and resolve to overcome a heady Adamson University (AdU) Lady Falcons to set up a sudden-death encounter while the Ateneo de Manila University (AdMU) Lady Eagles finally disposed of the resilient University of Santo Tomas (UST) Tigresses to advance to its third consecutive first conference final in the tenth season of the Shakey’s V-League (SVL).

Aiko Urdas and Jaja Santiago double-team Pau Soriano (Photo: George Calvelo/NPPA Images)

With an almost capacity crowd in attendance, the NU-AdU tiff once again matched the intensity of the initial semis encounter with the Lady Falcons controlling the tempo from the get go. Guest player and assistant coach Angela Benting continued her torrid pace from Game 1 and was a major catalyst in Adamson’s conquest of NU in the first set, 25-20. However, NU came storming back in the second set behind the explosive attacks of MVP frontrunner Din-Din Santiago who poured in a good portion

Until very, very recently the bulk of commercials where athletes were involved seemed to surround the Azkals (namely the Younghusband brothers and Chieffy Caligdong), UAAP basketball sensations (almost solely Ateneo’s Kiefer Ravena) and a quite a number of PBA stars (I just love Ali Peek’s character in that Talk n’ Text “unli” ad with Robin Padilla). Before, we had a handful of female athletes such as Lydia de Vega, Bea Lucero, Mikee Cojuangco and Tata Garcia that have a few endorsement deals, but practically none for what is emerging to be the second most-watched spectator sport in the archipelago: women’s volleyball.

Former national women's footballer Tata Garcia (Photo: Mauie Flores)

Sure, Shakey’s—one of the Philippines most recognizable pizza restaurants—has already utilized the talents and beauty of these amazing athletes in various mediums. However, Shakey’s (since 2004) has been synonymous to the sport with the Shakey’s V-League; the premier women’s volleyball league in the country. ABS-CBN Sports has also realized the potential marketing

By now many of you have read the accounts of the Philippine NASCAR team allegedly getting “scammed” into believing that they were heading to Charlotte to compete in the NASCAR RaceEx 2013. I will do the reverse here: I will first show the statement from the delegation's head, Paul Moñozca on his side of things and then go from there. Here it is:

All smiles: the Philippine team whooping it up early in Charlotte (Photo: the Moñozca Foundation)

“Official Statement from Paul Monozca on (the) Charlotte Race

“The Monozca Foundation prides itself with providing assistance to various athletes for education, training and competition since 2003. We have done this numerous times in basketball, golf, soccer and now racing.

“For the past 3 years, I have been searching for a unique opportunity to bring the first Filipino/s in a top 3 global racing brand. As the F1 was too expensive, I looked into NASCAR and Indy in the United States. I first made my trip to Charlotte, North Carolina in January 2010, which was the home of NASCAR. I was toured in its Charlotte Motorspeedway and was impressed by

From 10 teams to begin the 10th season, it is down to four UAAP squads (Photo: Shakey's V-League)

PHILSPORTS ARENA, Pasig City—The Ateneo de Manila University (AdMU) Lady Eagles needed a four-set drama to get the jump over the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Tigresses while the Adamson University (AdU) Lady Falcons bucked a key injury to carve out a five-set thriller of a victory over the erstwhile undefeated National University (NU) Lady Bulldogs ushering in the first pair of battles in the Best-Of-Three semifinal phase of the Shakey’s V-League 1^st conference.

Game 2 in both tiffs are on May 16^th at the MOA Arena in Pasay City. Tickets are available at all SM Ticketnet outlets.

The PhilSports Arena slowly filling up for the Shakey's V-League semifinals (Photo: Shakey's V-League)

The Katipuneras were elated with the addition of perennial Thai reinforcement Jaorensri Bualee which they acquired from the ousted San Sebastian Lady Stags. Bualee joined guest player Rachel Anne Daquis, MVP candidate Alyssa Valdez and former captain Fille Cainglet to form a virtual offense juggernaut. Bualee replaced returning center Aerieal Patnongon in the line-up but it was obvious at the start the

Team Lakay leads the local bets in ONE FC: Rise To Power (Photo: ONE FC)

As Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) continues its ascent in popularity in the archipelago, the MOA Arena will once again be the venue for an all out war on May 31 as ONE FC, Asia’s largest MMA organization brings “Rise To Power” to the Filipino fight fans; fanning the flames for the nation’s love affair with this fast-growing sport. But among the storied match-ups that ONE FC brings to the fight card at the end of the month, five rugged warriors from the north will showcase their deft skills in the squaring circle, three of which I had a golden opportunity to chat with recently.

They are three of about fifteen members of the iconic group known in the fight circles as Team Lakay.

Lakay—Ilocano for “friend”—is hardly the name one would consider as an amiable tag for a collection of some of the most wily MMA practitioners coming out of Northern Luzon, but it refers more towards the brotherhood these gentlemen share as a member of this elite squad. Also known as Team Lakay Wushu, the group was

Philippine motorsports has made quite a splash in recent months. After deserving competitors got feted with various accolades in the Golden Wheel Awards and the Automotive Association of the Philippines (AAP) Motorsports Awards, the Lotus F1 Road Show grabbed media attention recently as Filipino-Swiss driver Marlon Stockinger is in town to help promote the sport and prove to one and all that the Filipino can excel in this high-octane field.

The author with "The Team" (L-R): Carlos Anton, Stefano Marcelo, Michelle Bumgarner, Gaby de la Merced and Pia Boren (Photo: Bing Basit)

However—and with very little pomp and circumstance, if I may add—five intrepid local speedsters now journey to the United States for another shot at glory as the Philippine NASCAR RaceEx Team sees action in the NASCAR Racing Experience World Circuit in Charlotte, North Carolina to go up against some of the world’s best up and coming NASCAR drivers with hopes of putting the country on that prestigious motorsports map. Team Philippines is backed by Coral World Park, Goodyear Racing, the Moñozca Foundation, Cebuana Lhuillier, Petrol, Ford Philippines,

Bob Guerrero’s loss is my gain, I guess.

The "lucky" author with (L-R) Angela Rypien, Liz Gorman and Natalie Jahnke from the LFL (Photo: George Calvelo/NPPA IMages)

He was originally tasked to cover the arrival and interview of three selected ambassadresses from the fledgling Legends Football League (LFL) as they made their promotional stop in Manila recently. Bob couldn’t make it as he was en route from Dumaguete City after his coverage of the highly successful Palarong Pambansa so the office sent me, and I guess I didn’t really know what to expect. I was right.

I’ve been a National Football League (NFL) fan since I was a teen in the 1980’s. I grew up watching such legends as Dan Marino, Barry Sanders and Jerry Rice and when I was told I was interviewing some ladies who were part of a new women’s league—much like the 1992 Tom Hanks/Geena Davis/Madonna flick “A League of Their Own”—I was intrigued at the prospect of talking about the sport with a few rugged athletes and why they chose to be the distaff counterparts of the NFL. I sort of forgot the part about how they marketed themselves as a league, so