SPORTS

WRITING
REVIEWER

NOREN DAVE ASUNCION

 Sports Writing
Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on sporting topics and games. While the sports
department within some newspapers has been mockingly called the toy department, because
sports journalists do not concern themselves with the 'serious' topics covered by the news desk,
sports coverage has grown in importance as sport has grown in wealth, power and influence.

There are lots of different kinds of stories you can write on the sports beat, but probably the most
basic is the short game story. A short game story, usually 500 words or less, follows a
straightforward format that can be applied to any game you cover. Here’s the format:

The Lede

The lede of your story should include the final score and some details about what made the game
interesting. Generally this means focusing on the efforts of an individual player.

Let’s say a team’s star athlete is injured and a previously unheralded player comes into the game
as a substitute. Not much is expected of this rookie but he defies expectations and plays a great
game, leading the team to victory.

Example:

Second-string quarterback Jay Lindman, who had never played a down for Jefferson High
School, came off the bench after star QB Fred Torville was injured Friday night and threw three
touchdown passes to lead the Gladiators to a 21-14 victory over the McKinley High School
Centurions.

Or maybe the game is a close, seesaw battle between two evenly matched opponents, and is won
in the final seconds by an especially dramatic play.

Example:

Second-string quarterback Jay Lindman threw the game-winning touchdown with just 12
seconds left to lead the Jefferson High School Gladiators to a 21-14 victory over the McKinley
High School Centurions Friday night.

Notice that in both examples we focus on the efforts of an individual athlete. Sports is all about
the human drama of competition, and focusing on a single person gives the game story a human
interest angle that readers will enjoy.

The Body of the Story

The body of your story should basically elaborate on the lede. If your lede was about the
benchwarmer becoming the game’s star, then the body should go into more detail about that.
Often a simple chronological account works best.

Example:

Torville’s ankle was sprained when he was sacked in the first quarter. Lindman came into the
game with low expectations but threw his first touchdown pass in the second quarter with a high,
floating ball that receiver Mike Ganson snagged in the end zone.

In the third quarter, Lindman was forced to scramble out of the pocket to avoid the rush but
managed to fire a bullet to receiver Desean Washington, who made a diving catch at the goal
line.

The Wrap Up

The wrap up or ending of your story usually centers on quotes from the coach and players
gleaned from post-game interviews or press conferences. Getting great quotes for sports stories
can sometimes be tough – coaches and athletes often speak in clichés – but a snappy quote can
really be the icing on the cake of your game story.

Example:

“I knew Lindman could play but I didn’t know he could play like that,” said Gladiators coach
Jeff Michaelson. “That was one heck of a game by a young guy who showed a lot of heart.”

Washington said Lindman exuded confidence even in the huddle before his very first snap.

“He just said, ‘Let’s do this to win,’” Washington said. “And he went out there and did it. That
boy can throw the ball.”

Different Kinds of Sports Stories

The Straight-Lede Game Story The straight-lede game story is the most basic story in all of
sportswriting. It's just what it sounds like: an article about a game that uses a straight-news type
of lede. The lede summarizes the main points - who won, who lost, the score, and what the star
player did.

Here's an example of this kind of lede:

Quarterback Pete Faust threw thre touchdown passes to lead the Jefferson High School Eagles to
a 21-7 victory over crosstown rival McKinley High.

The rest of the story follows from there, with an account of the big plays and playmakers, and
after-game quotes from coaches and players. Because they often focus on high school and small-
college teams, straight-lede game stories tend to be fairly tightly written.
Straight-lede game stories are still used for coverage of high school and some college sports.
But they're used less nowadays for pro sports. Why? Because pro sports are seen on TV and
most fans of a particular team know the score of a game long before they read about it.

The Feature-Lede Game Story Feature-lede game stories are common for pro sports. Readers
usually already know the score of pro games as soon as they're done, so when they pick up a
sports section they want stories they offer a different angle on what happened and why.

Here's an example of a game story feature lede:

It had rained all that day in the city of brotherly love, so when the Philadelphia Eagles took the
field the ground was already a soggy mess - much like the game that would follow.

So it was somehow fitting that the Eagles would lose 31-7 to the Dallas Cowboys in a contest
that was one of the worst of quarterback Donovan McNabb's career. McNabb threw two
interceptions and fumbled the ball three times.

The story starts out with some description, and doesn't get to the final score until the second
paragraph. Again, that's fine: readers will already know the score. It's the writer's job to give
them something more.

Delayed-lede game stories tend to be a bit more in-depth that straight-lede stories, and as a
result are often longer.

Profiles The sports world is full of colorful characters, so it's no surprise that personality profiles
are a staple of sportswriting. Whether it's a charismatic coach or a young athlete on the rise,
some of the best profiles anywhere are found in sports sections.

Here's an example of a profile lede:

Norman Dale surveys the court as his players practice layups. A pained look crosses the face of
the coach of the McKinley High School basketball team as one player after another misses the
basket.

"Again!" he shouts. "Again! You don't stop! You don't quit! York work 'till you get it right!"
And so they continue, until they start to get it right. Coach Dale wouldn't have it any other way.

Season Preview and Wrap-up Stories Season previews and wrap-ups are fixtures of the
sportswriter's repertoire. These are done any time a team and a coach are preparing for the
coming season, or when the season has just ended, either in glory or infamy.

Obviously the focus here isn't a specific game or even individual, but a broad look at the season -
how the coach and players expect things to go, or how they feel once that season is done.
Here's an example of a lede for this kind of story:

Coach Jenna Johnson has high hopes for the Pennwood High School women's basketball team
this year. After all, the Lions were city champions last year, led by the play of Juanita Ramirez,
who returns to the team this year as a senior. "We expect great things from her," Coach Johnson
says.

Columns A column is where the sportswriter gets to vent his or her opinions, and the best sports
columnists do just that, fearlessly. Often that means being very tough on coaches, players or
teams who don't meet expectations, particularly at the pro level, where all concerned are being
paid huge salaries to do just one thing - win.

But sports columnists also focus on those they admire, whether it's an inspirational coach who
leads a team of underdogs to a great season, or a mostly unheralded player who may be short on
natural talent but makes up for it with hard work and unselfish play.

Here's an example of how a sports column might begin:

Lamont Wilson certainly isn't the tallest player on the McKinley High School basketball team.
At 5-foot-9, he's hard to spot in the sea of mid 6-footers on the court. But Wilson is the model of
an unselfish team player, the kind of athlete who makes those around him shine. "I just do
whatever I can to help the team," the ever-modest Wilson says.
 SPORTS WRITING TERMS

adviser (n.) — a person who leads an athlete astray. The adviser may be known (Scott Boras, say)
or presumed missing (“Who’s advising Michael Vick?”). When advice is required, a sportswriter
will kindly offer it on the house: “Free advice for tennis’ top stars.”

bust (n.) — a bad draft choice, and, later, a precious commodity for “whatever-happened-to”
features and listicles. Bleacher Report has published three versions of the “Biggest NFL Draft
Busts of All Time.”

centerpiece (n.) — the most important player in a proposed, often-fictitious trade. Synonym:
“lynchpin.”

class (n.) — one of the sportswriterly virtues. A “classy” athlete is a deferential one, both to us
and to his opponents. A “classless” coach is one who skips the postgame handshake.

columnist (n.) — a writer who produces less copy than a blogger.

Grantland Dictionaries

Read them all here.

commit (n.) — short for “commitment.” On college sports recruiting sites, it means a high school
player who has pledged to play for a particular school. A commit who’s wavering about his
decision is said to be “soft.”

courage (n.) — in sportswriting, two kinds of athletes are courageous: those who play hurt and
those who play soon after the death of a loved one.

distraction (n.) — an impediment to winning, which may take the form of a love interest, an
entrepreneurial career, or an appearance in a country music video. A distraction is usually
diagnosed retroactively. “The Super Bowl Shuffle” might have been the mother of all distractions,
but the Bears won, so it’s the subject of a Grantland oral history.

Draft Winds (pun) — a pun headline that has been placed atop NFL draft stories since at least
January 1990, when it appeared in the Sporting News.

durability (n.) — a football player’s knack for surviving a sport everyone agrees is too violent.

elite (adj.) — a quality Joe Flacco achieved on February 3, 2013.

era (n.) — an arbitrary period of time. Often demarcated by the presence or absence of a superstar:
“the post-Jordan era.”
fandom (n.) — it used to be that sportswriting enforced a bogus neutrality; now, it demands that
every sportswriter, at least once in his career, write a long piece explaining why he’s a fan of a
team. Such pieces sometimes include lots of childhood memories and references to at least one
relative (who may be dead).

fantasy sports (n.) — like fandom, a subject the sportswriter once couldn’t write about and now
can’t stop writing about.

far apart (exp.) — the inevitable distance between a team and a player in a contract negotiation.
The phrase may also be used in labor talks: “Gary Bettman: Sides ‘still far apart.'”

first-ballot Hall of Famer (n.) — there have been far more first-ballot Hall of Famers minted in
baseball columns than in actual baseball. The phrase really means “automatic Hall of Famer.”

G.O.A.T. (slang) — short for the “greatest of all time.” It has effectively replaced the old term
“goat,” which meant “choker.” Bill Buckner was a goat; Floyd Mayweather claims to be the
“G.O.A.T.”

“great piece!” (exp.) — a compliment for a story that’s longer than 2,000 words.

green (adj.) — the color of outfield grass. It is often startlingly so. Paul Simon, pinch-hitting as a
sportswriter in 2008: “How beautiful! The emerald green grass, the old-fashioned white facade
and the dots of color that were the fans in their seats.”

glue guy (n.) — a player whose true value (or so the writer says) can’t be quantified with stats. A
sportswriter favorite.

Golden Age of Sportswriting (n.) — usually the 1920s, but the phrase may refer to the glory days
of Laguerre’s Sports Illustrated, Walsh’s Inside Sports, or the Gammons-Ryan-
McDonough Boston Globe sports section. Stanley Woodward, 1949: “After considerable research
I can find no evidence to support the theory that sports writing had any good old days. … The only
thing that interests me is the modern American sports page which, as far as I can see, owes nothing
to antiquity. It didn’t even evolve. It sprang full-fashioned from the forehead of Zeus.”

hardware (n.) — championships, in the form of trophies. If a player doesn’t yet have hardware, he
might have “scoreboard.”

heart (n.) — an elusive quality associated with a player or team. See “identity.”

identity (n.) — When a talented team plays badly, a sportswriter goes looking for qualities it might
lack. “Heart” is usually the first of these. But a team like the 2012-13 Lakers — which has a
mishmash of coaches and lineups — is said to lack an “identity.”
immortal (n.) — common as a noun, i.e., “one of the immortals.” Becomes awkward when an
athlete dies — an act that would seem to establish his mortality beyond all doubt. A 1953 obituary
for Jim Thorpe proclaimed, “Immortal Athlete Passes.”

insider (n.) — a beat writer or league writer, repackaged for the digital age. These days, there
are NFL Insiders, Red Sox Insiders, and all kinds of insiders at ESPN Insider. An insider’s job is
to tweet out news a few seconds ahead of the competition.

instant analysis (n.) — analysis.

instant classic (n.) — a close game a sportswriter happened to watch live.

jonrón, un (n.) — Spanish for home run, and an occasion for the Spanish-language sportswriters
to write as floridly as their English-language counterparts. The Associated Press described a 2011
Yankees-Tigers game as “una feria de cañonazos de cuatro esquinas” — a carnival of four-corner
cannon blasts.

kid (n.) — an honorific for a young athlete. The sportswriter needn’t be more than a couple years
older than the “kid” to use the term. It establishes that the writer, not the player, is the adult in the
room.

leadership (n.) — another virtue. It usually means the ability to talk loudly in huddles and locker
rooms, or else quietly, in the sense of “leading by example.” Sometimes a synonym for
“unselfishness”: Tom Brady showed “his well-established leadership by reworking his contract
for later years at under-market value.”

legacy (n.) — how an athlete will be viewed in a few decades, as judged by a sportswriter whose
column is due in an hour.

light (n.) — the quality and color of light is a perennial concern of the sportswriter. It stretches
from Grantland Rice’s “blue-gray October sky” to Buzz Bissinger’s glowing stadium lights to S.L.
Price’s Aliquippa, in Western Pennsylvania, where darkness “dropped early and hard.” If you go
to games, the light is indeed striking, though its quality is nearly impossible to judge from a press
box.

locker-room cancer (n.) — the opposite of “clubhouse leader.”

mature (adj.) — a mature athlete, for a sportswriter, is one who spends his every waking hour on
sports.

media critic (n.) — once, the title referred to Rudy Martzke or Phil Mushnick, but now, thanks to
Twitter, sportswriters all gripe about and/or praise the media. This development is blamed on
Internet meanies, but it probably reflects the convergence of sportswriterdom and fandom. The
two things every fan does when watching sports are complain about the refs and complain about
the announcers.
M.N.C. (slang) — college football’s “Mythical National Championship” — these days, the BCS
title.

moment, the (n.) — an important game. If an athlete crumbles, it’s said that the moment was “too
big for him.” Sometimes known as “the stage.”

Moneyball (n.) — (1) personnel management using advanced stats; (2) a book every sportswriter
thinks he could have written.

motor (n.) — the measure of an athlete’s effort. A player can have a “great motor” or there can be
“concerns about his motor.” When employed too often, we all sound like pit men at Daytona.

off the field (n.) — a player’s existence outside of sports. Negative when employed as an adjective:
“off-the-field concerns.”

Olympics (n.) — an international grift that a sportswriter denounces from an intercontinental hotel.

outspoken (adj.) — worth quoting. If one sportswriter gets a story out of an outspoken player’s
comments, it’s customary for another journalist to write a story claiming the quotes represent a
terrible breach of etiquette.

power rankings (n.) — power rankings have two purposes: (1) they satisfy our lifelong desire to
sort players or teams in order of greatness; (2) they make for a reliable weekly column. The word
“power” is a tip-off they’re not based on empirical evidence.

prima donna (n.) — a wide receiver with a reality show.

project (n.) — the opposite of a “sure thing.”

Random Thoughts (n.) — a new name for the old “Notes” column.

ran out of time (exp.) — a long-lived phrase originally credited to Vince Lombardi, who once said
something like, “We didn’t lose the game, we just ran out of time.” In December, Troy Aikman
used a version when Adrian Peterson failed to break the NFL’s single-season rushing record. Like
a lot of Lombardisms, the phrase has traveled outside sports. JFK conspiracist Jim Garrison wrote
of his investigators, “They never stopped fighting to bring out the truth. They only ran out of time.”

says all the right things (exp.) — a compliment to an athlete who says nothing worth printing.
Thus, for the writer, it’s a compliment against interest. “Since [Johnny] Manziel began to talk, he
has been saying all the right things.”

scout’s take (n.) — a genre frequently used by Sports Illustrated in which an anonymous pro talent
evaluator breaks down a player’s game. Terrifying for the sportswriter, the scout’s take is often
pithier and better-written than his own.
scrappy (adj.) — small and hardworking. Tommy Craggs, 2009: “‘scrappy’ serves as an implicit
rebuke to the super-sized stars of the so-called Steroid Era, in much the same way it once carved
out a fatuous distinction between white ballplayers and black and Latino ballplayers.” At times,
the opposite of “flashy.”

sex (n.) — Robert Lipsyte, 1975: “In the minds of most sportswriters, money and women are the
termites of athletes’ souls.”

sexy (adj.) — interesting-looking: “a sexy matchup.”

source close to the process, a (n.) — the most anonymous tipster in sportswriting. A “source close
to the process” could be a player, a general manager, an agent, or a pool boy. A writer in search of
an equally vague term might try “a source familiar with the team’s thinking.”

stathead (n.) — “a mechanic with numbers,” in the words of Bill James. Statheads are also known
as sabermetricians, numbers guys, or stats geeks. Murray Chass calls them “new-age stats guys,”
which sounds like Nate Silver has become a shaman and moved to Sedona.

story line (n.) — every game, from Pop Warner to the Super Bowl, has a “story line” — essentially,
a theme that’s larger than the game itself. But lately, it has become trendy to use the S-word
explicitly — i.e., “Top 10 Super Bowl Storylines.” Talking about story lines offers the writer a
meta-defense for writing the same piece everyone else is. When Peter King writes, “Okay, we’ve
gotten the obvious storylines out of the way,” it means he has done his duty and is getting to the
good stuff.

Strat-O-Matic (n.) — archaic. A dice game referenced by sportswriters who grew up

before Madden.

swirl (v.) — the movement of trade rumors: “Tim Tebow trade rumors swirl.” Swirling trade
rumors can “die down” (passively) or be “shot down” (actively, maybe by a source close to the
process). A player ignoring trade rumors is said to be “tuning them out.”

take (n.) — (1) an opinion; (2) recruiting-ese for a high schooler who’s worthy of a scholarship —
i.e., “That kid’s a take.” Appropriately thievish, since the recruit will be conscripted to play for
free.

tank (v.) — to lose games on purpose in order to get a better draft pick. The older, more fragrant
term was “dump.”

television (n.) — Leonard Shecter, 1969: “Television is like some gentle, mindless robot carrying
sports tenderly in its arms to the top of the mountain and then over the cliff.”

trade demand (n.) — when an athlete asks for a trade in private, it’s a “request.” When he asks in
public, it gets elevated to a “demand.”
trade rumor (n.) — something a general manager likes to see in print.

turn heel (v.) — from pro wrestling: to become a villain suddenly or unexpectedly. “On July 8,
2010, LeBron James turned heel.”

unselfishness (n.) — the greatest of sportswriterly virtues. Our fascination with unselfishness
proceeds from two assumptions: (1) athletes are inherently selfish; and (2) unselfishness, when
reluctantly embraced, will always help a team win. Pete Axthelm, 1970: “Self-sacrifice must be
learned, often through laborious practice and occasionally through suffering.”

upside (n.) — constant air quotes haven’t stopped “upside” from replacing “potential” in draft
stories. Fittingly, the term is common in financial journalism: “Stephen Mandel’s high upside
potential picks” is about actual stocks, not Geno Smith’s stock.

window (n.) — the time period during which a team can win a title. “Has Patriots’ Super Bowl
window closed?” ESPN (and everyone else) asked back in January. Championship windows make
for better columns when they’re closing rather than opening.

winner (n.) — a player who collects hardware, often despite a confounding lack of natural talent.
When a sportswriter says, “He’s just a winner,” he has given up trying to figure out what makes
the athlete win.
 EXAMPLES OF SPORTS ARTICLES
BASKETBALL
 MANILA, Philippines–Packing so much firepower, San Miguel Beer on
Wednesday night steamrolled its way past Phoenix Pulse, 130-119, as the
Beermen’s Triple Crown sweep bid got off to a rip-roaring start in the PBA
Governors’ Cup eliminations at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
With the talent-laden local crew backstopped by the prolific Dez Wells, the Beermen
found little trouble in dusting off the Fuel Masters, who took a second straight setback
flush on the chin and joined Alaska at the cellar.
The Beermen scored 70 points in the first half and put up 105 at the end of three quarters
in a swashbuckling display of offensive brilliance that the Fuel Masters couldn’t
approximate.
Wells had 30 points after three quarters and didn’t look like he needed to pour in more
in the fourth as the Beermen led, 105-83.
“S**t, everyone keeps reminding me, man,” he said if he knows what he’s here to do
for SMB—win the Grand slam.
Only a lethargic fourth quarter by San Miguel allowed the Fuel Masters to make a game
out of it somewhat, only for Wells to quash the Phoenix rally every time. He finished
with 42 points.
Phoenix continued playing without suspended power forward Calvin Abueva, while the
Beermen played Christian Standhardinger sparingly because of a sore knee.

VOLLEYBALL
 BACOOR CITY—Generika-Ayala got its Philippine Superliga Invitational
Conference bid off to a swashbuckling start on Tuesday by ripping Marinerang
Pilipinas, 25-19, 25-23, 25-17, at Bacoor Strike gym here.
The Lifesavers were unrelenting on both sides of the court, with open spikers Fiola
Ceballos, Mean Mendrez and Patty Orendain taking turns in humbling the Lady
Skippers’ defense.
Ceballos and Mendrez finished with 12 points apiece while Orendain chipped in 10 for
the Lifesavers, who needed only one hour and 25 minutes to wrap up the contest in Pool
B action.
What made the victory more impressive was the fact that the Lifesavers managed to
deliver despite the absence of skipper Angeli Araneta, who suffered a knee injury in the
latter part of the All-Filipino Conference last month.
BOXING
 Manny Pacquiao's legend grows. On Saturday night in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand,
Pacquiao defeated Keith Thurman by split decision to become the unified WBA Super
World Welterweight champion. The judges scored the fight 115-112x2 and 113-114. Here
is how the boxing community reacted to Pacquiao's amazing performance. Pacquiao with
a victory bow, what a performance. Does this victory land Pacquiao back on the pound-
for-pound list. There’s your 2019 Fight of the Year thus far. Unbelievable action and skill
on display from bell to bell. The knockdown the difference on my card. Pacquiao 114-113.
The fight was every bit as good and action-packed as advertised. Pacquiao deserved the
victory based on his output, aggression and simply doing more damage with his punches.
This fight was a perfect example of how a fighter can land fewer punches but still deserve
to win on the judges' scorecard. While Thurman outlanded Pacquiao by 15 punches and
landed 79 more power shots, the latter did the most damage. To put it plainly, Pacquiao
hurt Thurman more. Pacquiao scored this knockdown in the closing moments of the first
frame after Thurman had controlled most of the round. Thurman talked about being
prepared for Pacquiao's lunging style, but after the knockdown, he never seemed to have
the Filipino legend's timing. In the 10th round, Pacquiao badly hurt Thurman with a left
hook to the body. Thurman has been notoriously soft there, and while he didn't go down,
One-Time did remove his mouthpiece and immediately retreated to gather himself. I scored
the fight exactly as Coppinger did with the difference being the extra point for the
knockdown in the first round. However, the left hook to the body was just as significant.
Thurman was rallying and chewing up the big lead Pacquiao had built early in the fight.
The body shot stopped him in his tracks and halted the momentum. Thurman's bright spots
would be few and far between the rest of the fight. The world is again Pacquiao's oyster
after this win. Many people, including me, didn't pick him to win this fight. However, at
40 years old, he not only proved he can still compete with the best welterweights in the
world. He also showed power that most thought was gone. He still didn't earn the stoppage,
but you could tell by Thurman's reactions that getting caught flush by Pacquiao is still a
very unpleasant experience. Pacquiao could fight the winner of the Errol Spence vs. Shawn
Porter welterweight unification bout, or if he really gets his way, perhaps this win can lure
Floyd Mayweather Jr. out of retirement for an insanely lucrative rematch. That would be
an epic payday for all involved sometime in 2020, or perhaps later this year if Mayweather
presses the issue. As for Thurman, I really believe he should consider retiring. With all due
respect to Pacquiao who performed excellently, Thurman just isn't the same hungry fighter
that he was before his long layoff from 2017 to earlier this year. He said he wanted a
rematch with Pacquiao, but that is highly unlikely despite the appropriately tight
scorecards. With bigger names and possibilities on the horizon for Pacquiao, it would not
make any sense for him to fight Thurman again. Thurman has a great future as
a commentator, and he made a lot of money on Saturday night. It would be in his best
 interest to transition into that part of his boxing journey. However, he is a fighter, and at
the end of the day, it is his decision.

SEPAK TAKRAW
 PALEMBANG - The Philippines bowed out of contention in sepak takraw's men's team doubles
play after losing to Japan, 2-1 on Friday at the Ranau Hall inside Jakabaring Sports City. Japan
won the first regu in two straight sets 21-17, 21-19. In the second regu, Japan nabbed the first set,
21-18, and needed to win one more take the regu and the game. However, the Philippines' dynamic
duo of Rheyjey Ortouste and John Jeffrey Morcillos remained undeterred. They decisively won the
second set, 21-10, and won the thrilling third set with Ortouste delivering the winning bicycle kick.
John Jeffrey Morcillos and Regie Reznan Pabriga of the Philippine sepak takraw team pose for a
photo after their men's team double match against Japan in the 18 Asian Games held August 24,
2018 in Palembang, Indonesia. Yoyo Sarmenta In the third regu however, Japan overwhelmed the
Philippines' John Carlo Lee and Regie Reznan Pabriga. Even as Joshua Gleen Bullo was subbed in
briefly, they struggled for points throughout the regu. Japan cruised to two straight sets, 21-14 and
21-10, taking the match. "In the third regu, I think we lacked communication," assessed Pabriga.
"We gave what we could in that event." "We fell short towards the end," said coach Hector
Memarion. "But we saw our athletes give their best. Luck didn't go our way, but we still have the
regu event." The Philippines won't advance in the semifinals of the men's team doubles but still
have regu competition on Saturday. In the regu event, teams are composed of three players with
two additional players serving as reserves. The Philippines will be tested early as it will be pitted
against host country Indonesia in its first match in the preliminaries. After two days of competition,
coach Memarion is proud of his team. All nine Filipino players are in their first Asian Games but
they didn't shy away from the tough competition. "They've really shown heart. And no fear even
though they're first-timers," beamed Memarion. "When you say first-timers, there's usually
nervousness with the crowd. With them, there wasn't. It was as if they were in training. I'm really
proud of them. They gave it their best." For 27-year-old Morcillos, he shared that it has been an
eye-opening experience so far. "Our experience in these Asian Games have been really fun. It's our
face time to compete here and we showed that 'Oh, we can do it. We can take on our opponents.'"
"We fell short but this is a huge exposure for us and for Philippine sepak takraw. This is a huge
experience for us. These are lessons learned for us," he added. "I hope we we win tomorrow," said
Memarion. "We're still going to fight."

TABLE TENNIS

 NAGA, Philippines – Jann Mari Nayre undoubtedly outplayed Ngo Bao Phung Long
displaying 3-0 flawless victory in the 24th Southeast Asian Junior and Cadet Table Tennis
Championships held on July 13, 2018 at the Robinson’s Place Naga. Nayre delivered an
outstanding 4 point sweep at the critical part of the game which lead to his win. The match
started with Nayre setting a large gap on the score 5-0 with his terrific side spins and Long’s
errors ending the first set 11 – 5 with the set lead, 1-0. The second was still dominated by
Nayre making the score gap farther from his fast side spins and outstanding smashes ending
the set 11 – 4 with the set lead, 2-0. Nayre showcased his superiority by sweeping 4 point
lead reaching the set point which was halted by Long’s effort but it was not enough to stop
Nayre from prevailing winning the set 11-3 and final set lead at 3-0. The match ended with
Long getting the combined score of 12 with Nayre getting the combined score 33 making
him one of the “Best of the best” table tennis players in ASEAN region.
 BADMINTON
 National University inched closer to a fifth straight title after surviving University of the
Philippines, 3-2, in the UAAP Season 81 badminton tournament Wednesday.
Reigning MVP Alvin Morada put down the Fighting Maroons’ Michael Clemente, 21-15,
21-14, in the deciding singles match that broke the tiebreak for the Bulldogs.
UP’s JM Bernardo opened up the tie with a 21-16, 21-14 win over NU’s Ros Lee Pedrosa
but the Bulldogs quickly leveled things up after Mike Minuluan dropped Kyle Legaspi,
21-15, 21-8.
NU took a 2-1 lead after Morada and Alem Palmares tripped Betong Pineda and Harvey
Tungul, 21-11, 21-14, in the first doubles.
UP then tied things at 2-2 after Bernardo and Vinci Manuel dumped NU’s Minuluan and
Pedrosa, 21-17, 21-19, in the second doubles.
The Bulldogs will have a chance at the title on Friday 8 am at Rizal Memorial Badminton
Hall.