UAAP HS basketball caps first round action today

UAAP High School Basketball Standings:

NU 6-0
Ateneo 5-1
DLS-Z 5-1
FEU-Diliman 3-3
Adamson 3-3
UST 2-4
UPIS 0-6
UE 0-6

UAAP High School Basketball schedule at the Blue Eagle Gym:

9am: UPIS vs. UE
11am: FEU-Diliman vs. UST
1pm: Adamson vs. DLS-Z
3pm: Ateneo vs. NU

A rematch of last year's finals is set to cap off high school basketball this year.

Defending champions Ateneo seek to put a dent on unbeaten National University later today at the Blue Eagle Gym.

The Bullpups have racked up six straight wins, behind the duo of John Lloyd Clemente and Justine Baltazar, while the Blue Eaglets have won five straight after losing their opening assignment to La Salle-Zobel.

Just before that matchup, the 5-1 Junior Archers, with recent La Salle commit Aljun Melecio, go up against Adamson at 1pm. The Baby Falcons are tied with FEU-Diliman at 3-3 for fourth. The Baby Tamaraws will face the UST Tiger Cubs at 11am.

Opening the quadruple header at 9am is the matchup involving winless UPIS and UE.

ONE FC: SPIRIT OF CHAMPIONS caps off 2015 for ONE Championship

The Weigh-In for ONE FC: SPIRIT OF CHAMPIONS is later today.

To send 2015 off with a bang, ONE Championship has put together a MMA event at the SM Mall of Asia Arena this Friday, December 11.

According to ONE Championship CEO Victor Cui, 2015 for him was an "amazing year," acknowledging that they have "climbed new heights while breaking barriers and spreading the ideals of the MMA discipline."

Highlighting the fight card is the ONE Heavyweight World Championship title fight between Brandon "The Truth" Vera and Paul "Typhoon" Cheng. Cheng, of course, is the late replacement for Chi Lewis-Parry, who was dropped by ONE Championship on Tuesday.

The ONE FC: SPIRIT OF CHAMPIONS main event

Supporting the main event fight are four more bouts involving Pinoy fighters.

One fight sees the return of former women's boxing world champion Ana "Hurricane" Julaton, as she faces former wushu world champion Irina Mazepa of Russia in a flyweight bout.

Just before the Vera fight, Mark Striegl will be facing off against Reece McClaren, while Eugene Toquero faces Chinese opposition in Li Wei Bin in the flyweight division. Toquero is fresh from a UD loss to Riku Shibuya on ONE: TIGERS OF ASIA, and hopes that a win here would vault him back into title contention.

Completing the cast of Pinoy fighters is Ruel Catalan, who will face Alex Silva of Brazil in a flyweight bout.

The other matches scheduled sees a couple more featherweight bouts (Christian Lee against David Meak, and Bruno Pucci against Anthony Engelen) and a strawweight matchup (Angela Lee against Lena Tkhorevska).

A ninth fight was supposed to take place, but Yang Jian Bing was suffering from severe dehydration in attempting to make weight and his match against Geje Eustaquio was called off on Thursday.

Cui remains committed in "cultivating local homegrown heroes from the grassroots into bonafide superstars," adding that when fans cheer on their favorite fighter/s in a place like the MOA Arena, "that is when we know we have done a good job."

Cui believes that 2016 "will be even better," as ONE Championship is expected to conduct more shows in iconic cities throughout Asia.

ONE FC drops Chi Lewis-Parry from SPIRIT of Champions

In a statement released on Tuesday, ONE Championship made the decision to remove Chi Lewis-Parry from the ONE FC: SPIRIT OF CHAMPIONS MMA event slated this Friday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

The outfit cited the inability of Parry to provide his medical results and drug tests in spite of numerous requests to do so. He also has opted not to take the flight from London to Manila.

Parry had been slated to face Brandon Vera for the ONE FC Heavyweight title, but replacing him will be Paul Cheng.

ONE Championship CEO Victor Cui released a statement on this matter:

BREAKING NEWS:After multiple requests made by ONE Officials directly to Chi Lewis Parry and his Manager over the last...
Posted by Victor Cui on Tuesday, December 8, 2015

In the interest of fairness, Lewis-Parry posted this on Facebook when he learned about the move.

Dear world. As I forewarned, One Championship have ripped my shot from my grasp. They pretended Paul Cheng was...
Posted by Chi Lewis-Parry on Tuesday, December 8, 2015

ONE FC: SPIRIT OF CHAMPIONS will be shown LIVE on Friday, December 11, on Fox Sports 2, starting at 830pm.

IPTL Manila leg participants and standings

The participants of the IPTL leg in Manila:

Japan Warriors: Mirjana Lucic, Kurumi Nara, Marat Safin, Leander Paes, Philipp Kohlschreiber

Philippine Mavericks: Serena Williams, Milos Raonic, Mark Philippoussis, Treat Huey, Edouard Roger-Vasselin, Jarmila Gajdosova, Richard Gasquet, Ajla Tomljanovic

Micromax Indian Aces: Rafael Nadal, Sam Stosur, Sania Mirza, Rohan Bopanna, Fabrice Santoro, Ivan Dodig

Obi UAE Royals: Ana Ivanovic, Tomas Berdych, Goran Ivanisevic, Kiki Mladenovic, Daniel Nestor

Oue Singapore Slammers: Belinda Bencic, Carlos Moya, Nick Kyrgios, Karolina Pliskova, Dustin Brown, Marcelo Melo

IPTL standings post-Kobe leg:

UAE 2-0 (56-35 = 61.54%)
India 2-0 (52-46 = 53.06%)
Philippines 1-1 (52-50 = 50.98%)
Singapore 1-2 (68-77 = 46.9%)
Japan 0-3 (63-83 = 43.15%)

Scheduled games:

1st game is 4pm. Second game is 715pm.

December 6: Japan-Singapore and Philippines-UAE
December 7: India-UAE and Philippines-Japan
December 8: Singapore-UAE and Philippines-India

Serena Williams leads Philippine Mavericks in 2015 IPTL

Serena leads the Mavericks

Year 2 of the International Premier Tennis League kicked off in Kobe, Japan on Wednesday, with the top women's player in the world leading the Pinoy cast.

Serena Williams leads the rebranded Philippine Mavericks, which has the lone Pinoy player on the IPTL in doubles specialist Treat Huey.

Serena had arguably one of the most impressive seasons in WTA history, being able to hold all four Grand Slams simultaneously by winning the Australian, French, and Wimbledon to complete the "Serena Slam" with the 2014 US Open.

Her greatness is already assured by being the active leader in combined titles in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles, whether male or female. She's seventh all-time in Grand Slams with 34 and is 3rd all-time in weeks at number 1.

Joining Serena and Treat in the Philippine Mavericks roster are Richard Gasquet, Sabine Lisicki, Jarmila Gajdosova, Borna Coric, and team skipper Mark Philippoussis

With the Manila leg taking place starting today at the Mall of Asia Arena, PLDT VP and HOME Marketing Director Gary Dujali expressed excitement with the "level of premier entertainment" this brings to the Pinoys. He adds that this edition of the IPTL will be "bigger and more extradordinary," with more than 30 international tennis stars coming in.

PLDT HOME Fibr subscribers can avail of a 20% discount for the IPTL Manila leg, with the chance to win VIP tickets complete with a Uber Black red carpet treatment.

Women's Stepladder Playoff set between Ateneo and UE

Game today at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum

10 a.m. – Ateneo vs UE (Women's Stepladder Playoff)

The stepladder postseason for UAAP Season 78 women's basketball officially kicks off later this morning at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum, as third seeds University of the East face fourth seeds Ateneo de Manila in a do-or-die playoff.

Led by head coach Aileen Lebornio, the Lady Warriors surprised many with their performance during the eliminations, finishing with a 7-7 record, one game ahead of Erika Dy and the Lady Eagles.

Expect an intense matchup involving Eunique Chan and Ruthlaine Tacula for UE and Danica Jose and Hazelle Yam for Ateneo. 

Both teams needed to defeat the UST Growling Tigresses to formally secure their spots in the postseason, with UE taking a 68-53 win last Sunday and Ateneo eking out a 64-53 overtime win in a playoff for the final postseason berth this past Wednesday.

The winner in this playoff faces La Salle in the stepladder semifinal at the Mall of Asia Arena on Wednesday, 10am. The Lady Archers own a twice-to-beat advantage, thanks to copping the second seed with a 12-2 record.

Defending champions National University are already in the finals by sweeping the eliminations.

UST set to defend UAAP judo crown

The UAAP judo competition for Season 78 is set to take place starting at 830am today inside the La Salle-Greenhills gym.

UST, under the tutelage of their head coach Gege Arce, is set to defend their collegiate titles. The Tiger Judokas reclaimed the men's title by dethroning Ateneo, 45-43, behind MVP Al Rolan Llamas, while the Lady Judokas counted on MVP Annie Ramirez and Princess Lucman to fend off Ateneo, 42-32.

UST seems set to be able to continue their dominance in this sport, as they are the favorites to add to their championship tally of eleven men's and seven women's crowns.

In the high school ranks, Ateneo is set to fend off UST and La Salle-Zobel in defending their title. The Blue Eaglets relied on MVP Christian Clemente and Jose Ariel Querubin to claim the championship last year.