A winter basketball tournament for 16 Filipino teams yesterday started in Taoyuan, with hundreds gathering at a community center for the opening.
In the ceremony of the Confederation of Ilocano Association, Samahang Ilocano’s (CIASI) Nankan Linkou Winter Basketball League, more than 300 Filipinos who comprised the teams marched past the stands to be judged on best uniform and muse.
The Lian-Hwa team, made up entirely of workers from Lian Hwa Foods in Taoyuan, won best uniform, with their eye-catching red, white and blue jerseys.
The design of their jerseys was inspired by this year’s NBA All-Star Weekend uniform, which includes a tribute to the late basketball legend Kobe Bryant, who died in a helicopter crash in January, Lian-Hwa captain Jayson Manipon said.
The jersey features an image of the shooting guard dribbling a ball, Manipon said.
“In basketball, Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan are our idols, and they will forever be legends who inspire us,” the 34-year-old player said.
TEAM SPIRIT
The Linkou Spartans won the Best Muse trophy, which was accepted by the team’s muse Barbie Fronda, a 26-year-old Filipina factory worker from New Taipei City.
In Filipino basketball culture, muses are women who whip up support for their teams at tournament openings.
The tournament, which did not hold any official games yesterday due to unfavorable weather, is expected to run for two to three months, with 56 games in the preliminaries before playoffs begin.
The league has raised NT$10,000 to buy stationery supplies for elementary schools in the Philippines, said Aristotle De la Cruz, president of CIASI Taiwan’s Nankan subchapter, which organized the competition.
HOMETOWN SUPPORT
The money, raised from tournament registration fees and a three-point shootout competition on the opening day, would go to elementary schools attended by players on the Guishan Tan-Star team.
The team, made up of players from the Philippine province of Bohol, earned the right to choose the schools after winning a raffle.
Meanwhile, 25-year-old Justin Cueto of the Quanta Ballers team, named after the Taoyuan-based Quanta Computer, won the three-point shootout contest, sinking seven out of 15 shots, among 50 contestants.
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Arne Slot has denied that Darwin Nunez was dropped from Liverpool’s win against West Ham because of a training-ground row with a member of his coaching staff. The Liverpool head coach on Sunday last week said that Nunez was absent from the 2-1 victory at Anfield, having felt unwell during training the day before, although the striker sat behind the substitutes throughout the game. Speculation has been rife that the Uruguay international, whom Slot criticized for his work rate against Wolves and Aston Villa in February, was left out for disciplinary reasons. Asked on Friday to clarify the situation, Slot said: “He