Asian Games 2018: Gilas Vs South Korea

Tomorrow, we get to face the basketball team that has been responsible for so many heartbreaks for Pinoy fans: South Korea. It's a match up that's been hyped up so much the past few days that it's hard to find an angle to discuss that hasn't been discussed yet.

And yet here I am. For this article, we'll look at key match ups to look out for in tomorrow game:

Key Match Up #1 Jordan Clarkson/Stanley Pringle vs Kim Sun-hyung/Lee Jung-hyun/Heo Ung
The Gilas starting backcourt is some kinda amazing and should dominate their South Korean counterparts, who are all solid but not spectacular.  Clarkson/Pringle are deadly on both sides of the floor and will pose the biggest problems for South Korea.

Pinay Power Fuels Asian Games Medal Flurry

What do Hidilyn Diaz, Pauline Lopez, Agatha Wong, Divine Wally, Juvenile Crisostomo, Rinna Babanto, and Janna Oliva all have in common?

They are all Pinay medal winners in the 2018 Asian Games...and are repsonible for 5 of our 6 medals to date (August 24, 2018).

Olympian weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz, of course, gave us our first (but hopefully, not our last) gold medal while the rest gave us bronze medals in taekwondo and wushu.

Not to say, of course, that our men's teams have not been doing well. In fact,  our men's poomsae team composed of Dustin Mella, Jeordan Dominguez and Rodolfo Reyes, Jr are also on the board with a bronze medal but for the most part, it is our Pinay athletes who have fared better in the competitions.

We still have more chances at medals courtesy of our ladies as Meggie Ochoa and Kaila Napolis (jiu jit su) for podium finishes this afternoon. Let's wish our ladies luck and hope that the power Pinays keep shining golden!

The 2018 Asian Games (Day 3): Three Bronzes

It's only the third day (officially) of the Asian Games 2018 in Jakarta and Team Pilipinas already has 3 bronze medals, courtesy of taekwondo (poomsae) and wushu.

The Philippine men's team composed of Dustin Mella, Jeordan Dominguez, and Rodolfo Reyes, Jr. fell to China in the semifinal round while the women's team made up of Faye Crisostomo, Rinna Babanto, and Janna Oliva were bumped of by a very cohesive United Korea team.

Wushu's Agatha Wong copped the third bronze for the Philippines with a scintillating performance in women's all-round taijiquan/taijijian event.

Impression: The Philippines is a darkhorse in most of the event in these disciplines. We're good enough to hang with the big boys of the sport but maybe not yet good enough to beat them But it's also a good indication of the development of both taekwondo and wushu in the country, as we've consistently been able to show good performances here. I expect a couple more medals to come from wushu and taekwondo. 

Initial Thoughts On The Asiad Gilas Team

In the latest episode of the nation's most gut-wrenching basketball drama, the SBP once again changed their minds and are now sending a team to the Asian Games in Indonesia.

They are now going back to their original plan, which is to send the core group of the Rain Or Shine Elasto Painters and to augment that with a few key additions from other teams.

Here's the final lineup:
Maverick Ahanmisi (RoS)
Raymond Almazan (RoS)
Beau Belga (RoS)
Gabe Norwood (RoS)
Chris Tiu (RoS)
James Yap (RoS)
Stanley Pringle (Globalport)
Christian Standhardinger (San Miguel)
Paul Lee (Magnolia)
JP Erram (Blackwater)
Don Trollano (Talk 'N Text)
Asi Taulava (NLEX)
Kobe Paras (Cadets)
Ricci Rivero (Cadets)