One week has passed, eight days remain. To me, among tennis’ four Grand Slams, nothing is more riotous, whopping, lively, and earsplitting than the US Open. Nine Augusts ago—back in 1999—I was lucky to have stepped inside Flushing Meadows together with my dad Bunny and another father-and-son tandem, Paquito and Fabby Borromeo. What we saw [...]

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Two nights ago wasn’t the Closing Ceremony—that was a party. After 16 days of glitch-free Olympics that showcased world-class venues and introduced the warmth of the Chinese army of 1.5 million volunteers, the XXIX Games ended the way it began: with fireworks. For who, but our giant neighbors, can invent pyrotechnics that form the five [...]

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Harry Tañamor lost in the first round. Eric Ang lost in the first round. Mark Javier lost in the first round. Henry Dagmil and Maristella Torres lost in the first round. So did swimmers Miguel Molina, James Walsh, Daniel Coakley, Ryan Arabejo and Christel Simms. Sheila Mae Perez lost in the first round. Same with [...]

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BEIJING-Wasn’t it perfect? Like he had it all planned. Just three hours away from that most-awaited date of “August 18″ when he’ll be crowned tennis’ world no. 1, Rafael Nadal stood at that middle podium, raised his Spanish arms to the Beijing skyline, then accepted the sparkling gold medal from his countryman, the IOC president [...]

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BEIJING—Apart from not seeing the US “Redeem Team” embarrass everyone in basketball (though we did see Kobe and LeBron in separate sports venues here) and not capturing, with our bare eyes, the historic 8-for-8 achievement of a dolphin named Phelps, our China trip lived up beyond our expectations—especially with what we witnessed two days ago. [...]

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BEIJING-Out of the eight days and nights that we’ve camped out here in this Olympic city, the weather has been erratic: When we arrived on 08/08/08, the smog was as thick as smoke. The day after, the sun arose and the sky’s ceiling was painted blue. The next morning, it rained. The following afternoon, the [...]

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BEIJING — Four nights ago at around 10 p.m., me and my viewing partner during these games — my roommate Jasmin — were lost. We exited the Olympic Green Tennis Center, hopped inside Bus No. 7 and, as we had done the day before, expected to be dropped at a bus stop close to our [...]

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BEIJING—After six days here of cheering for athletes from Sweden and Argentina and Indonesia and Australia and Serbia and dozens more, it was a welcome sight to see a familiar nation: Philippines. YES! we can finally proclaim, we’re part of the XXIX Olympiad. You see, around this sprawling city of 15 million residents, you will [...]

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At the Pearl Market / Silk Street shop here in Beijing, we posed for a photo with the top RP Olympic official, Bacolod congressman Monico Puentevella….

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BEIJING?Next to Yao Ming and the 110-meter hurdler Liu Xiang, the athlete the 1.3 billion Chinese admire the most swings a badminton stick. In this game played by everyone Chinese?from 66-year-olds to those aged 6?he has won, among dozens of trophies, the last two world championships. He’s the Michael Phelps of shuttlecocks; the Tiger Woods [...]

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BEIJING—The Temple of Heaven is one of this city’s must-visit sites. Located not far from the Forbidden City, it’s a mecca where tourists congregate. Well, in my case, being the tennis buff that I am, my “Temple of Heaven” was located at another spot last Monday, the Beijing Olympic Green Tennis Center, where my wife [...]

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BEIJING (Originally posted on Aug. 10, 2008)—My watch read “1:45″ in the morning and we still had not had dinner. But never mind. Because what transpired the six hours prior was an experience that will forever be etched in memory. The 91,000-seater Bird’s Nest—home of the last Friday night’s Opening Ceremony—we were not able to [...]

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Thanks to James Naismith, they’ve invented basketball. They’ve dominated. Since the game was founded in 1891, the letters U-S-A have lorded over the orange-colored ball that’s shot inside the10-foot-tall ring. In all, the Americans have won 12 of the 15 Olympic basketball gold medals. That’s what you call lordship. Superiority. Monopoly. Remember the Dream Team? [...]

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