PLDT HOME’s Fibr brings the most powerful volleyball team to international stage

Manila, Philippines – The country’s volleyball's elite hits the international stage from September 13 to 21 when the highly-fancied Philippine Volleyball squad, a team of top players, head for Thailand for the Asian Volleyball Championship (AVC).

Local volleyball has been experiencing a resurgence lately as talent-laden collegiate and other super leagues have captured the imagination of the media, thanks to exciting games fuelled by young, never-say-die players who think of nothing but giving the public a million thrills each time they play.

PLDT HOME through Fibr, its most powerful broadband, is supporting the team’s shot for sporting glory in Thailand as part of the MVP (Manuel V. Pangilinan) group’s advocacy for youth development and sports excellence in the country.

Mr. Pangilinan supports a number of athletic endeavors, including the Smart Gilas basketball team which snagged the silver medal in the FIBA championship held in Manila last month, and the national Taekwondo team which won gold and silver medals in the World Youth Championship in China recently.

 “We see great potential for sports excellence in these athletes,” said Gary Dujali, VP and head of PLDT HOME Fibr broadband. “This newly-formed squad has some of the best players in Philippine volleyball. It is with great pride that the most powerful broadband is supporting the country’s most powerful volleyball team.”

The Philippine Volleyball squad was introduced today at a press conference held at Aracama, in Bonifacio Global City. According to Coach Nes Pamilar, the team held try-outs and selected players from some of the top collegiate teams and the Philippine Super Liga. The girls have been going through intensive training since then to whip the team in top shape.

“This is a tough tournament,” acknowledged Mr. Pamilar. “Our main goal is to gain experience through this international league. We’re not aiming for the championship, but we will give it our all. We are aiming for a slot in the top eight, since it is a requirement of the PSC (Philippine Sports Commission) that the team makes it to the top eight so the girls can be sent to the Southeast Asian Games,” he said.

Among the top players in the squad are team captain Angeli Tabaquero, an open spiker from UST who now plays for the Petron Lady Spikers; Aiza Maizo-Pontillas, a utility spiker also from UST and playing for Petron as well; and Angelique Beatrice “Jheck” Dionela, a defense specialist from the University of Perpetual Help who now suits up for the Cagayan Valley Lady Rising Suns.

“We’re very happy to have the full support of our fellow Filipinos plus support from private companies like PLDT,” said Tabaquero.  “Sana, ito na. Sana tuloy-tuloy na. I can't wait for us to be back on top. Gusto kong ipakita sa ibang bansa na ito kami. May ibubuga kami."

Coach Pamilar likewise expressed gratitude to individuals and organizations who now support the Philippine Women’s Volleyball Team:  “ Sobrang thankful tayo, especially to PLDT HOME for the morale at lalo na sa financial support na natatanggap namin sa kanila. Yan ang kailangan natin. Yung mga developments tulad nito make you excited para sa future ng Philippine volleyball.”

The AVC is held every year under the auspices of the FIVB (Federation Internationale de Volleyball), which governs, manages and communicates all forms of Volleyball and Beach Volleyball competitions worldwide. This year, 16 countries will be participating in the league.

The Philippines first joined the AVC league in 1983. This will be the 8^th time the country will participate  in this prestigious tourney.

The Philippines has a long way to go in re-establishing its foothold in regional volleyball after a  long hiatus from international competition. But because of PLDT HOME’s support, the country’s powerful volleybelles are now represented again on foreign soil. It is, as Coach Pamilar described, “the first of many baby steps our nation is going to have to undertake in this tough  mission.”

PLDT HOME supports the move to revive the support for Philippine volleyball by getting the entire nation’s backing as the team participates in an international league.

 The competition will be held at the Gym Mall Korat, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand. First round of games for the Philippines will be as follows:

1^st round – Philippines vs. India

2^nd round – Philippines vs. Iran

3^rd round – Philippines vs. China

To view the players’ profiles and schedule of games, visit pldthome.com.

Here is the complete team roster:

                                                            

PLDT Fibr is HOME’s most powerful broadband that offers seamless and simultaneous browsing through high-speed internet with speeds of up to 100Mbps. Subscribers can also enjoy over 200 blockbuster movies-on-demand via Clickplay. Fibr’s dedicated connection also allows subscribers to watch 78 Cignal Digital TV channels including 19 in high definition.

Fibr is now available in over 700 subdivisions in key cities nationwide like Forbes Park, Dasmarinas Village, Ayala Alabang, Greenhills, Valle Verde, White Plains, and Greenmeadows in Metro Manila; Cebu Royale Estate and Beverly Hills in Cebu; and Ladislawa Garden Village in Davao. Visit pldthome.com for more details.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Paulo Bautista, 0919.839.8363, ghbautista@ddbphil.com

Millet Liberato, 0939.904.1226, mdliberato@ddbphil.com

Sports Time

Sports

Basketball

NBA

Spurs takes a 2-1 lead over the Miami Heat by having a blowout game in from of their home court. 113-77. It was not the expected Big 3 of the Spurs who took lead but it was the young bloods of Danny Green and Gary Neal who took control of the game by dishing out 11 3's!

ABL

San Miguel Beermen swept the Indonesia Warriors and took home their first ABL Crown. They defeated the defending champs 70-55. Chris Banchero was named the MVP of the league. As I have watched the game, I was really impressed with Asi Taulava. Boy, he still got the moves! I seriously think he can really help our Gilas team. He is in his youth shape. He even lead the team in scoring.

SAN MIGUEL 70 – Taulava 19, Banchero 10, Avenido 10, Acuna 9, J. Williams 7, B. Williams 6, Fortuna 5, Hubalde 2, Menk 2

INDONESIA 55 – Wuysang 22, Daniels 15, Pringle 11, Thomas 5, Smith 3

FIL-OIL 

Probably the biggest upset, everyone really thought NU have this in the bag but UE came out to play and eventually win the championship game against a very strong and determined NU team! They have defeated the defending champions 81-68 with Roy Sumang leading the team. He was later named the Finals MVP.

Credits to the UE twitter account for this photo

Mythical 5 of FilOil Flying V Premiere Cup: Roi Sumang of UE, Kiefer Ravena of ADMU, Ray Parks and Aroga of NU, and Rodney Brondial of ADU.

Volleyball

Our very own Philippine Team just arrived on Vietnam for their Southeast Asian qualification tournament set from June 14-16 in Quang Tri, Vietnam. After seeing the lineup, I am very sure that we have sent a very competitive line up. I hope we can win against Vietnam(first game)! As the trend says, One for the country!

Keep the Faith.

Paolo

Shakey's VLeague X games on April 14

Games on April 14 (Sun)- 2pm. UST vs. DLSU-D; 4pm. AdU vs. NU. LIVE at San Juan Arena

UST will try to get their first win of the season against DLSU-D who on the other side won their first match against Letran. It has been a very difficult season for the UST Tigresses as the have been struggling since the start of Season 75. But with their reinforcements Aiza Maizo and Rhea Dimaculangan, UST fans are believing that they can do well in the 10th season of the Shakey's V-League. As for DLSU-D, Chi Saet and Jen Manzano proved that they're the perfect fit for the DLSU-D Lady Patriots as they easily finished Letran Lady Knights.

I predict UST to win this game in 4-5 sets. They just need to have a consistent Blocking and Receive. With Maizo and Ortiz, your offense won't have a problem. Personally I want UST to win this one in a very convincingly. They just need to focus and believe that they can win this game.

(Photo credits from the fanpage of UAAP Women's Volleyball)

For the second game, these two teams are the strongest teams on their bracket. If NU's floor coverage will click tomorrow, for sure they can easily beat ADU for they are much stronger and taller than ADU, but if they don't, ADU can give them a good fight and even win this game. Key players for ADU are Pau Soriano and Shiela Pineda, while for NU, its  Rubie De Leon, Din2 Santiago and Myla Pablo. 

Both games tomorrow are exciting and it sucks that I will just have to watch it via live stream. Good luck to both teams!

Keep the Faith.

Paolo

The Daily Report

Since I am really inspired with the blog of my blog-icon The Professional Heckler, I was inspired to do a daily recap of everything that happened during the day. But my daily focus are just Sports, News, Technology, Music, and Entertainment. :] I will do my best. :]

SPORTS

Basketball

NBA

Are the Lakers peaking at the right time? Lakers won against Portland Blazers with Kobe Bryant scoring 47 points on their win. MVP chants are heard on the court of Portland. Kobe has been playing tremendously well and you can really see that he wants to be on the playoffs. Props also to the support of Pau Gasol and Dwight Howard. Lakers are now 1 game ahead of Utah Jazz.

Here are rest of the results:

ATL 124 - PHI 101
MIA 103 - WAS 98
MIL 103 - ORL 113
DET 111 - CLE 104
BKN 101 - BOS 93
PHX 102 - DAL 91
NOH 110 - SAC 121
SAS 86 - DEN 96
MIN 95 - LAC 111

PBA

TV5 will still air PBA games even though their contract with IBC ends on May.

Their contract with IBC will end this May but MVP has no plans of renewing it. He said that it was too expensive. I think it will be better if the games will be shown on TV5 as it will also help them to solidify their sport block timeslots, PBA fans are loyal viewers. But one thing is for sure, we will be seeing PBA on our television until the end of the conference.

Volleyball

After losing their first game, Arellano bounced back to win their game against the struggling but very sneaky University of San Carlos. Danna Henson of AU was named as the best player of the game by scoring 17 points. Arellano University def. San Carlos: 25-19, 25-18, 18-25, 22-25, 15-8

On the second game, Ateneo De Manila University still proved that they can defend their title by winning in four sets against the powerhouse San Sebastian College lead by their Thai import Jeng Bualee. Not surprisingly, Alyssa Valdez was on her usual form and scored 25 points. Ateneo leads their bracket with 2 wins and no defeats so far.

Next games of Shakeys VLeague will resume on Saturday, April 14 with games between UST and DLSU-D (2pm) and NU vs ADU (4pm)

Good news to all volleyball fans! We can now watch the games on our televisions!

Shakey's V-League will air on GMA News TV.

Fans of the much-followed volleyball league can now watch the games' telecast starting April 15, 1pm after noon-time newscast Balitanghali."

(c) GMA News Online

ENTERTAINMENT

SURVIVOR

Michael got eliminated. Interesting scene was Malcolm getting the idol of Reynold on the tribal council surprising everyone. In the end, it did not matter as Malcolm did not receive any vote.

FHM

The FHM 100 Sexiest of 2013 voting has now begun. You just need to log on to FHM to cast your votes. It was Sam Pinto who was named the sexiest woman for the past 2 years.

Still figuring how will I sum up everything on a short note so that it won't get boring. :] that's all for tonight!

Keep the Faith.

Paolo