Sports bits

PBA mulls lower salary cap

The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is mulling the possibility of revising its salary cap scheme next season, reducing the ceilings both in the team and individual caps with the local pro league.

At the moment, the league imposes an annual team cap of P36.3 million and a maximum of P6 million a year to any individual player. Rookie players, meanwhile, are not allowed to receive more than P2.4 million in their first year in the league.

In the face of crisis, the board saw the need to tighten its belt, thus, it's now formulating a new set of rules on salary cap.

Incidentally, the NBA is also imposing a revised salary cap scheme starting next season with its television income dipping the last few years.

Players who might be affected by the revised ceiling are potential No. 1 draft pick Romel Adducul and old PBA mainstays Mark Caguioa, Bal David, Ronald Magtulis, Jimwell Torion, Junthy Valenzuela, Mick Pennisi, Rodney Santos, Rob Wainwright, Mike Hrabak, Paolo Mendoza, Boybits Victoria, Rob Duat and Boyet Fernandez who are likely to bargain for a higher pay as their contracts expire at the end of the year.

Chess players need more help

Filipino chess players training for the 35th World Chess Olympiad are hoping the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office will come to their rescue.

The National Chess Federation of the Philippines, through its president, Mat Defensor, has requested the PCSO for financial assistance, underscoring the importance of the Chess Olympiad. But the request remained unacted upon.

The men’s and women’s will take part in the event set Oct. 25 to Nov. 11 in Bled, Slovenia.

The NCFP got a shot in the arm when the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) granted the Olympic-bound teams P1 million to finance their trip to Slovenia. However, the amount is still P500, 000 short of what the teams need.

A total of 126 countries will see action in the Olympiad, where the Philippines has regularly finished in the top 20.

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Next RP team needs more international exposures

MANILA: Philippine team head coach Jong Uichico is batting for more international exposures for the next national quintet to the Asian Games in 2006.

Uichico said the next coaching staff to the 2006 Asiad in Qatar would inherit his fate if the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) continues its way of selecting and training the national team.

The PBA professional league has been handling national teams to be sent to the Asian Games since 1990.

The Philippines placed second in the Asian Games in Beijing in 1990 under coach Robert Jaworski, fourth in Hiroshima in 1994 under coach Norman Black, and third in Bangkok in 1998 under coach Tim Cone.

“Unlike in other countries, the national coach has a stint of at least three to five years. All the mistakes that he had in the first year will certainly be rectified in the succeeding years,” said Uichico.

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Pacquiao’s win voted Upset of theYear

Manny Pacquiao’s impressive sixth-round knockout win over South African Lehlo Ledwaba for the super-bantamweight crown last year in Las Vegas was voted by the International Boxing Federation (IBF) as its 2001 Upset of the Year.

“It was not only the IBF which was stunned by Manny’s win, it shocked the boxing world,” said the Filipino slugger’s business manager, Rod Nazario.

Pacquiao is deep in preparation for the second defense of the IBF 122-lb title against Colombian power-puncher Jorge Eliecer Julio on June 8 at the Pyramid Arena in Memphis, Tennessee.

Pacquiao has been working out at renowned American tactician Freddie Roach’s famous Wild Card Gym since April 25. A former fighter in the 1980s, Roach hooked up with the Filipino lefty in June 2001.

Pacquiao last fought in November 2001 when he drew with New York-based Dominican Republic native Agapito “El Ciclon” Sanchez in San Francisco.

The clash with the ninth-ranked Julio will be Pacquiao’s third straight appearance on US soil.

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FedEx bares P30M budget for cycling tour

Barely seven months before actual competition takes off, Airfreight 2100, the sole licensee of FedEx in the country, has already completed the blueprint for the staging of its second tour undertaking.

The men behind the project vow a summer spectacle that is bigger in scope and cash prizes.

“Definitely, we are pushing for the continuation of the tour,” proclaimed FedEx Tour executive director Mar Mendoza.

Tentatively billed “Express Tour ng Pilipinas,” the event comes in the heels of the successful staging of the Express Tour of Calabarzon last June which FedEx initiated to revive the annual cycling tour that had been shelved for almost three years.

Unlike its maiden venture, next year’s edition will be a 14-lap race covering the Manila and Bicol regions, which Mendoza said would cost the giant delivery service a total of P30 million.

Out of such amount, Airfreight 2100 president Lito Alvarez bared P3.2 million is allotted as prize money, P1 million of which goes to the winning team and P200,00 to the individual champion.

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FEU wins volleyball crown

Far Eastern University spent some moments in the wringer but prevailed anyway over University of Santo Tomas to sweep the eliminations and automatically retain the women’s volleyball crown of the 65th University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP).

FEU needed 79 minutes and a lot of regrouping in the four-set win that gifted the Lady Tamaraws their fourth straight championship, 25-19, 20-25, 25-12, 26-24.

That victory by coach Evangeline de Jesus’s wards at the University of the Philippines’ College of Human Kinetics gym Sunday also underscored FEU’s domination of the sport that was played in all of the UAAP’s 65 seasons.

The Lady Tamaraws have snatched 27 titles overall, including three they shared with two other schools, to remain the winningest team in the league in women’s volleyball.

The loss, the third for UST, put the Lady Tigers in second, the same finish booked by the De La Salle Lady Archers, who also won 11 of the 14 games in the double-round eliminations.

De La Salle wrapped up its campaign with an 83-minute 25-17, 24-26, 25-19, 25-18, conquest of tournament host UP, pushing the Lady Maroons to fourth place at 8-6.

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