ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Filipinas, Obiena earn PSA monthly honors

Filipinas, Obiena earn PSA monthly honors

Published Aug 11, 2023 06:13 am

At A Glance

  • In the month a world-caliber pole vaulter became the first Filipino to make the grade for a spot in the Paris 2024 Olympics, the eye-popping performance of the Philippine national women's football team in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup in New Zealand was the toast of Philippine sports for the month of July.

In the month a world-caliber pole vaulter became the first Filipino to make the grade for a spot in the Paris 2024 Olympics, the eye-popping performance of the Philippine national women’s football team in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in New Zealand was the toast of Philippine sports for the month of July.

366684325_766077195527616_7475481252620847969_n.jpg
The Philippine Women's Football team. (PWNFT)

Known in the football world as the Filipinas, the game and gutsy bunch of Fil-foreign kickers made history not by just performing on the sport’s biggest stage but scoring an epic win over one of the tournament’s contenders.

After suffering a heartbreaking 2-0 defeat at the hands of world No. 20 Switzerland in their debut at the Dunedin Stadium on July 21, the Filipinas, rated No 46, backed by their diehard fans from around the world, pulled off a 1-0 victory over No. 26 and tournament co-host New Zealand four days later in Wellington.

The breakthrough goal - courtesy of forward California-born Sarina Bolden - came in the 24th minute off a header that Kiwi goalie Victoria Esson was unable to deflect.

It was a goal heard around the world as the Philippines, not exactly a football-crazy country, finally served notice of its bold bid.

While the celebration lasted just for a few days, the Filipinas carved their name in the history books with their gallant stand in Group A following a 6-0 shutdown they suffered from former champion and world No. 12 Norway at Eden Park in Auckland.

Still, the Fiipinas made a lot of heads turn following their stint that they topped the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) list of achievers for the month of July.

Coming in a close second to the Filipinas was Italy-based EJ Obiena, who did 5.82 meters during the Diamond League-Bauhaus Galan in Sweden on July 3 to secure a berth to Paris.

About two weeks later, Obiena would bring his act to Thailand for the Asian championships, a meet he dominated by posting a new continental mark of 5.91 meters.

For Obiena, the Asian event was just a warmup.

Obiena, 27, would stamp his class anew a week later, placing second in the Monaco leg of the Diamond League in Monte Carlo.

He did 5.82 meters again, behind first-place Christopher Nilsen of the United States, who won the gold with a 5.92. Interestingly, world champion and record-holder Armand Duplantis was off as he finished fourth overall.

In other parts of the world, Filipino athletes did as well.

The Filipino duo of Johann Chua and James Aranas defeated Joshua Filler and Moritz Neuhausen of Germany, 11-7, to win the World Cup of Pool 9-Ball Championship. The victory was a record fourth time for the country to rule one of the prestigious events in billiards.

Over in Bangkok, Thailand, the Philippine bowling team won two golds in the 21st Asian Youth Tenpin Bowling Championships courtesy of Art Barrientos in the boys’ masters and the boys’ team of four composed of Barrientos, Zach Sales Ramin, Stephen Luke Diwa, and Marc Dylan Custodio. The Filipinos ended up as the overall champion in the boys division.

Team Manila wouldn’t be left behind as it regained the Pony International World Series crown by completing an eight-game sweep of the 18-Under girls’ tournament at the McAllen Softball Complex in Texas.

Related Tags

Filipinas Johann Chua EJ Obiena james aranas
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.