2017 was filled with achievements and disappointments for athletes and sports teams from Negros Occidental. Among the highlights were Ceres-Negros FC and taekwondo athlete Angeline Alcantara.

Football

Despite falling to FC Istiklol of Tajikistan in the 2017 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup inter-zone play-off semifinals, Negrense club Ceres-Negros FC had a great run in 2017, capturing the AFC Cup ASEAN Zonal title, the AFC Cup Fair Play Award, and the inaugural Philippines Football League.

“Our surprising run in the AFC Cup ASEAN Zonal championship, and eventually to the AFC inter-zone semifinals, was the year where the club established many firsts,” said club chairman Leo Rey Yanson. “It was part of the mission of the club to represent the city, the province, and the country in the international stage.”

“Our success is also your success,” he added. “We find inspiration in your support.”

Yanson called 2018 a “big challenge for the team.”

The Philippine men’s national football team, the Azkals, which often called up Ceres FC players for national duty, currently remain atop their group in the ongoing AFC Asian Cup qualification round.

Taekwondo

In August, Mary Angeline Alcantara of the Hanah Taekwondo gym won gold at the 3rd World Cadet Taekwondo Championships in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

“We fought against [the] world’s high-rated players, and even taller ones, but she finished victorious,” said Hanah coach Vic Feria. “God really has a purpose and a plan.”

Arianne Espida of the Negros Taekwondo Union Tigers also took silver in the competition.

Softball

The Domingo Lacson National High School softball team bannered the Negros Occidental squad that won silver medals at both the Senior League Softball World Series at the Bruce Layton Field in Lower Sussex, Delaware in the United States and the 2017 Pacific School Games at the Adelaide Shores Sports Complex in Adelaide, Australia.

Boxing

Bago City-born boxer Aston ‘Mighty’ Palicte defended his North American Boxing Federation (NABF) super flyweight title against Mexican fighter Jose Alfredo Rodriguez last month, at the Round Rock Sports Center in Texas, USA, after the bout was stopped in the fifth round.

2017 was not a victorious year for all Negrense boxers, ‘King’ Arthur Villanueva of Bago City lost to undefeated World Boxing Council (WBC) world bantamweight titlist Luis ‘Pantera’ Nery in a Tijuana, Mexico bout via technical knockout; while Genesis ‘Azukal’ Servania of Bacolod City lost to World Boxing Organization (WBO) world featherweight champion Óscar Valdez via unanimous decision following their fight in Tucson, Arizona in the United States.

However, Servania managed to pick up a win last month by knocking out his Thai opponent Kittiwat Sirichotchayakun in the first round of their fight at the Sangyo Hall in Kanazawa, Japan.

Chess

Grand Master Nigel Short of England won the 2017 Negros International Open Chess Championship, which took place at the Osbron Hall of Ikthus Equipping Center in Bacolod City. The competition was the first international chess tournament in the province featuring foreign grand masters facing off against some of the country’s top chess players.

Tchoukball

In November, the men’s and women’s Tchoukball Association of the Philippines (TAP) teams each took silver medals in the Southeast Asia Tchoukball Championships 2017 at Ramkhamhaeng University in Bangkok, Thailand.

The teams also competed in the 2nd World Beach Tchoukball Championships in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, where the women’s team finished in fifth place and the men’s team took seventh.

More sports events are expected this year throughout the province, which are expected to bring out the best from local talents./JSG, WDJ