What makes it more fun in the Philippines?: GO PHILIPPINES

ONE FOR THE PHILIPPINES

Filipinos are known for being strong, hard worker, and of course ATHLETIC. We always want to fight for what is right but in sports, we always fight because we want to win and we want to be the best that we can be for ourselves, and for our nation as well.

BASKETBALL

The Philippines is fund of playing sports, basketball to be specific. We had our own professional league which is the Philippine Basketball Association which was founded on the 9th of April, 1975 at Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines.

With the likes of Alvin Patrimonio, Marlou Aquino, Benjie Paras, Johnny Abbarientos, Jojo Lastimos, Allan Caidic, Samboy Lim, Jaworski, and many other Filipino basketball legends and teams such as the two prominent teams from 70s to 80s were the Crispa Redmanizers and Toyota Super Corollas, they made our country to be more a basketball-oriented nation.

Last August 1 to 11, 2013, the Philippines hosted the FIBA Asia Championships that will serve as a qualifying round for the 2014 FIBA World Championships that will be held in Spain. The Philippines started strong before losing their third game against Chinese Taipei. The national team advanced to the second round and won their next three games which helped them to have fight in the Semi-Finals against a strong and tall South Korean team. Our team won the game and that made them qualified for the Finals. However, the Philippines lost to Iran in the Finals. Fortunately, the top two teams in the tournament will have a slot in the upcoming World Championships next year The team is composed of PBA players and a naturalized player. The team was lead by an experienced coach, Chot Reyes. After finishing second place the team rose 11 places in the world rankings and now #34.

interAKTV. (2013). FIBA Asia championship: Gilas Pilipinas vesus
South Korea highlights [Video file]. Retrieved on November 28, 2013
from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVBXrjvb9Qg

FOOTBALL

The Philippine football rose into occasion during the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup when the Philippines defeated the defending champions Vietnam from 2 goals to nil (2-0), and drew versus Singapore with the last minute goal from Chris Greatwich (1-1). Their last group stage match against Myanmar was a goalless draw and that send them to the Semis-finals but lost to the eventual champions, Indonesia with a 3-1 win on aggregate.

In the 2011, the Philippines qualified for the second round of the qualifier after winning 5-1 over Sri Lanka. Unfortunately, the team failed to execute their skills against the experienced team of Kuwait in the next round which won 5-1.

The National Football Team is currently ranked #133 in the world, the highest rank that our national team reached. The team is currently composed of Filipino-foreigner bloods. They are a big boost to the team however, in football it is important to have home-grown players for better communication and team chemistry. We are known as the Philippine Azkals (Street Dogs).