Abanse Negrense’s power duo of Alexa Polidario and Erjane Magdato never dropped a single set on the way to becoming the queens of the first volleyball tournament in the country amid the pandemic.
Polidario and Magdato capped their perfect run in the historic 2021 Gatorade-Philippine Superliga (PSL) Beach Volleyball Challenge Cup with a 21-15, 21-17 victory over DM Demontano and Jackie Estoquia of Sta. Lucia A in the finals on Sunday, Feb. 28, at the SMBA Sand Court in Subic, Zambales.
Polidario came through with the huge attacks including the title-clinching hit as the two stalwarts from University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos completed a six-game sweep in the three-day tourney under a sports bubble concept.
“Sobrang saya. It’s a blessing kasi kahit first time namin mag-join sa ganitong league at nakuha namin ‘yung championship (We’re so happy. It’s a blessing for us because this is the first time we joined a league this big and we won the championship),” said an emotional Polidario.
Despite coming off an 11-month layoff and to a new league, Abanse Negrense A dominated the three-game pool play before booting out Toby’s Sports in the quarterfinals on Saturday and taking down the veteran-laden Sta. Lucia B in the semifinals earlier. (Jeremiah Sevilla)
PSA Forum
One of the teams seeing action in the inaugural Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup and a newly-founded sports marketing organization aimed to help the progress of Philippine sports in this time of the pandemic will be the guests in a two-part session of the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) online Forum on Tuesday.
The MJAS Zenith Team led by manager Jhon Santos, player Paolo Hubalde, and Puma PH senior manager for sales marketing and operations Michael Aldover will talk about their campaign and chances in the upcoming regional pro league set to start this summer.
Meanwhile, the Goal Diggers PH team of Robbie De Vera, Simone Jaldon, and Rely San Agustin discuss their programs as marketing professionals and former athletes with the aim of uplifting Philippine sports given the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Presented by San Miguel Corp., Go For Gold, MILO, Amelie Hotel Manila, Braska Restaurant, and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), the weekly session starts at 10 a.m.
Powered by Smart and Upstream Media as the official webcast partner, the Forum is livestreamed via the PSA Facebook pagefb.com/PhilippineSportswritersAssociation and also shared by Radyo Pilipinas 2 Facebook page.
Laguna downs Camarines in battle of chess titans
Grandmasters Banjo Barcenilla and John Paul Gomez powered the Laguna Heroes to a 12.5-8.5 victory over a GM Mark Paragua-led Camarines Soaring Eagles in the clash of the league titans in the PCAP All-Filipino Conference Saturday night.
Barcenilla, many-time Battle of the GMs champion, fought fellow Olympiad veteran Paragua to draws while Gomez swept Mark Daluz in their rapid and blitz matches to help propel the Heroes to a share of second with Caloocan with identical 19-3 win-loss records.
Laguna could overtake San Juan, which owns a league-best 20-3 card, in the Northern Conference if it could beat Zamboanga in their deciding Armageddon playoff match on Wednesday. Their faceoff ended up in a 10.5-all count.
Also delivering for Laguna were FIDE Masters Efren Bagamasbad and Vince Angelo Medina. Bagamasbad outlasted Carlo Lorena in 72 moves of a Dutch Defense, Medina downed Virgen Gil Ruaya in 57 moves of a Trompovsky.
The Heroes won despite the absence of Karen Enriquez, who was suffering from asthma attack.
Camarines slipped to second in the Southern Conference with a 19-4 mark, a full game behind the Negroes Kingsmen (20-3). (Kristel Satumbaga)
