PSA EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR

PHILIPPINE Olympic Committee (POC) president Rep. Abraham “Bambol”

Tolentino will be vested the Executive of the Year award for the second consecutive year during the San Miguel Corp.-Philippine Sportswriters Association (SMC-PSA) Annual Awards Night.

Tolentino will receive the honor from the country’s oldest media organization for again steering Philippine sports to greater heights in 2022. The PSA’s traditional gala night is on March 6 at the grand ballroom of the Diamond Hotel.

Tolentino received the award in 2021 for having led the country’s successful campaign in Tokyo where weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz-Naranjo won the Philippines’s first-ever Olympic gold medal.

The year that passed saw Philippine sports achieve a high level of success once more behind Diaz-Naranjo’s golden treble at the 88th International Weightlifting Federation World Championships, Alex Eala becoming the first Filipino to win a girls juniors singles at the 142nd US Open, the women’s football team clinching a first-ever berth in the FIFA Women’s World Cup and winning the ASEAN Women’s Championship, EJ Obiena rising to become the world No. 3 pole vaulter after a historic bronze medal finish at the World Athletics Championship and gymnast Caloy Yulo claiming three golds in the Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships and a silver and bronze at the World Championships.

There’s also karateka Junna Tsukii bagging gold at the World Games, Carlo Paalam bringing home gold from the Asian Boxing Championships and the billiards team of Rubilen Amit, Carlo Biado and Johann Chua topping the World 10-Ball Teams Championships.

Added to the list are Meggie Ochoa and Kimberly Anne Custodio dominating the jiu-jitsu world championships and Team to me). I was already aware of my school’s sports team—the Ateneo Blue Eagles.

In fact, one of my earliest recollections of that time was trying to catch a glimpse of the games held at the old Loyola Center inside the Ateneo campus and then-star Steve Watson ruffling my hair. I knew then our coach was Baby Dalupan who coached Crispa, and there were a few Blue Eagles on the Redmanizers squad.

But I gravitated towards Toyota because of three players—Francis Arnaiz, Ramon Fernandez and Robert Jaworski.

The first ever PBA posters of their stars were also sold at the cafeteria of the Ateneo Grade School. The posters were a hit but none more so than Arnaiz who once played for the blue and white.

The posters sold for P5, which was a huge sum, but somehow I managed to get all three of the Toyota players. The posters soon adorned the walls of my bedroom along with my music heroes Kiss, Led Zeppelin, Wings, the Juan dela Cruz Band and Sampaguita among others.

It was tough being a Toyota fan then. Everyone gave me stick. Even when the Tamaraws won, I couldn’t overly celebrate because everyone still ganged up on me.

Nevertheless, it was a treat to be able to watch Toyota play in the Big Dome of which I live a few minutes’ drive away (including walking distance). The only time I would get to watch was on weekends when there was no school. remember that series against U-Tex in 1980, I asked my dad if he could get us tickets to the games. Since Crispa wasn’t playing, he didn’t. That fateful Game 5, I wasn’t even able to watch.

We went to watch the film The Final Countdown at Broadway Centrum. When we got out of the theater, the guards at the cinema were all glued to the radio listening to the broadcast of the game. So my parents and I—like many others—stopped to listen to the blow-by-blow account of the game’s final moments.

Like many other Toyota fans, I was stunned and heartbroken over the loss. I forgot the film that we just saw and was despondent over the loss.

Sometime later, I remember my dad bringing me ringside at the Big Dome where he introduced me to Ed Ocampo who was then the new coach of Toyota. My dad and Ed were schoolmates at the Ateneo although the latter was two years ahead of him. It

Philippines finishing a fighting fourth in the Vietnam 31st Southeast Asian Games despite the difficulty of training and campaigning

Tolentino is also the president of the pines or PhilCycling and currently Mayor of Diaz-Naranjo will be recognized as the Athlete of the Year for the second straight time during the formal event presented by the Philippine Sports Commission and Cignal TV and ably backed up by the POC, Tolentino, Milo, Smart, MVP Sports Foundation, Rain or pine Basketball Association, OKBet and the Eala will receive the President’s Award, while Major Awards will be handed out to Obiena, Team Filipinas, Yulo, Ochoa, Paalam, Custodio, Tsukii, Amit Biado and was a small student body then and everyone knew each other.

What a thrill that was to see the team up close as they went about their round robin.

So stayed a fan right up to their disbandment. Boy was I upset. Even worse, I had to choose—do I root for the team where Jaworski and Arnaiz were or the one with Fernandez?

While rooted for Gilbey’s Gin and then Ginebra, I also rooted for Beer Hausen, Tanduay and Manila Beer (not San Miguel though).

In college, I sent a long handwritten letter to Jaworski after their Game 2 loss to Manila Beer during the 1986 Reinforced Conference. Imagine my surprise that Christmas, I received not only an autographed Christmas card but also a Ginebra jacket and a basket of Christmas goodies.

And years later, I got to collaborate with Arnaiz as we put out a replica Ateneo jersey of his. That was some thrill as his Ateneo teammate and then Ateneo Sports Director Ricky Palou introduced me to him.

Then several years ago, I got to help Ramon Fernandez with some relief efforts in his capacity as Philippine Sports Commission commissioner. How cool was that? And I will be doing some projects with El Presidente soon.

The world championships are set September 30 to October 8 in Antwerp and because they are a qualifier for the Paris 2024 Olympics, Yulo will choosing the tournament in Belgium over the Hangzhou Games scheduled September 23 to October 8.

Japanese coach Munehiro Kugiyama will fly to Cottbus from Tokyo to join Yulo—a former world champion in floor exercise and vault—in Cottbus. Yulo, who took a two-week vacation in Manila, as well as Capellan and Besana, will compete in the parallel bars, floor exercise, rings, vault and all-events.