Fair Play: Balbona kids and Donaire's rules
FELIX and Juliet Balbona must be grinning ear to ear these days.
Their eldest daughter, Jessa, finished second in the 18-Under division of the National Age Group Chess Championship in Aklan, while their sons Marq Gabrielle and Felix Shaun both finished eighth in the Boys 14-Under and 12-Under divisions, respectively. John Francis also ended up 28th in the 12-Under division.
Jessa, an incoming college freshman, will represent the country in two international events as a reward for that feat. She will be joined by Renzi Kyle Sevillano of the famous chess-playing clan in Cebu.
Thanks to former sports editor Jobannie Tabada, we got wind of the results. Imagine that, an ex-journalist stationed abroad gets to know about the event ahead of us.
Hearing about the Balbonas’ success is always a welcome development since I got to meet them when they were still in elementary for a feature story.
That time, the siblings led Colegio dela Inmaculada Concepcion to the gold medal in the Milo Little Olympics in 2004, earning a citation from the Sportswriters Association of Cebu the next year.
I’m sure SAC has awarded the same members of a family in its 26 years of recognizing Cebu’s achievers, but I don’t think it has awarded four members of a family during one recognition day.
Though I’ve played competitive football, tennis, ping pong and baseball, chess was the first sport I took up back in Grade 4.
I had a hand-me-down book and tried my luck at the gentlemen’s game.
However, I never had the patience to be a gentleman. After they changed the way they do notation a couple of years later, I lost my interest.
Now, I only play chess in my PC or in my cellphone. I always win because of the undo move.
My only foray at tournament chess also ended in a funny way. I don’t know why my name was included in the lineup for the Sun.Star sportsfest, but still, I went on to face our company driver Roger Montes, the reporters’ most sought after companion in coverages.
While the rest of the guys were plotting counterattacks and checkmates, Roger and I were playing it one move at time.
We were still plotting our moves when one of the serious players told us, “Undanga na, checkmate na oy.”
DONAIRE RULES. Here’s something interesting I read in Recah Trinidad’s column the other day. The prolific writer said
Nonito Donaire Jr. issued this memo to his team:
“Do not ask Nonito for fight tickets. They will not be granted. Forward all requests to Rachel Donaire and it will be handled appropriately. We pay for tickets. They are not free. Please hold yourself with the utmost dignity, respect, and class as you are a representative of Nonito. When Nonito wins, please remain in your assigned seats and do not climb the stage.”
I don’t know about you, but I think another boxer also needs to adopt these rules, particularly rule No. 1 and the part about not climbing the stage.
In his last fight, Manny Pacquiao was said to have spent close to P32 million for the tickets, airfare, hotel accommodation for his friends (and those who think of themselves as his friends.)
And after the victory, everybody knows who went up the stage.
If Pacquiao can’t issue a memo, well, I guess it won’t do any harm if I will.
Memo to Team Pacquiao: If you have to ask for tickets, it means you don’t deserve to be in Las Vegas. The Sin City is not Malacañang, hogging the camera won’t give you pogi points. Pacquiao is a boxer, those who interview him should be those who have even just a little knowledge of the sport, not those whose interviewing skills are sharpened by asking whether a starlet got a boob job or is sleeping with somebody else’s girlfriend.
(mikelimpag@gmail.com, football.cebunetwork.com)
Their eldest daughter, Jessa, finished second in the 18-Under division of the National Age Group Chess Championship in Aklan, while their sons Marq Gabrielle and Felix Shaun both finished eighth in the Boys 14-Under and 12-Under divisions, respectively. John Francis also ended up 28th in the 12-Under division.
Jessa, an incoming college freshman, will represent the country in two international events as a reward for that feat. She will be joined by Renzi Kyle Sevillano of the famous chess-playing clan in Cebu.
Thanks to former sports editor Jobannie Tabada, we got wind of the results. Imagine that, an ex-journalist stationed abroad gets to know about the event ahead of us.
Hearing about the Balbonas’ success is always a welcome development since I got to meet them when they were still in elementary for a feature story.
That time, the siblings led Colegio dela Inmaculada Concepcion to the gold medal in the Milo Little Olympics in 2004, earning a citation from the Sportswriters Association of Cebu the next year.
I’m sure SAC has awarded the same members of a family in its 26 years of recognizing Cebu’s achievers, but I don’t think it has awarded four members of a family during one recognition day.
Though I’ve played competitive football, tennis, ping pong and baseball, chess was the first sport I took up back in Grade 4.
I had a hand-me-down book and tried my luck at the gentlemen’s game.
However, I never had the patience to be a gentleman. After they changed the way they do notation a couple of years later, I lost my interest.
Now, I only play chess in my PC or in my cellphone. I always win because of the undo move.
My only foray at tournament chess also ended in a funny way. I don’t know why my name was included in the lineup for the Sun.Star sportsfest, but still, I went on to face our company driver Roger Montes, the reporters’ most sought after companion in coverages.
While the rest of the guys were plotting counterattacks and checkmates, Roger and I were playing it one move at time.
We were still plotting our moves when one of the serious players told us, “Undanga na, checkmate na oy.”
DONAIRE RULES. Here’s something interesting I read in Recah Trinidad’s column the other day. The prolific writer said
Nonito Donaire Jr. issued this memo to his team:
“Do not ask Nonito for fight tickets. They will not be granted. Forward all requests to Rachel Donaire and it will be handled appropriately. We pay for tickets. They are not free. Please hold yourself with the utmost dignity, respect, and class as you are a representative of Nonito. When Nonito wins, please remain in your assigned seats and do not climb the stage.”
I don’t know about you, but I think another boxer also needs to adopt these rules, particularly rule No. 1 and the part about not climbing the stage.
In his last fight, Manny Pacquiao was said to have spent close to P32 million for the tickets, airfare, hotel accommodation for his friends (and those who think of themselves as his friends.)
And after the victory, everybody knows who went up the stage.
If Pacquiao can’t issue a memo, well, I guess it won’t do any harm if I will.
Memo to Team Pacquiao: If you have to ask for tickets, it means you don’t deserve to be in Las Vegas. The Sin City is not Malacañang, hogging the camera won’t give you pogi points. Pacquiao is a boxer, those who interview him should be those who have even just a little knowledge of the sport, not those whose interviewing skills are sharpened by asking whether a starlet got a boob job or is sleeping with somebody else’s girlfriend.
(mikelimpag@gmail.com, football.cebunetwork.com)
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