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People of Philippines are loves of sports and the presence of a raft of games reflect the active and sporty lifestyle of the Filipinos. Sports such as athletics, weightlifting, aerobics, and martial arts are popular in Philippines. Other sports include baseball, American football, swimming, underwater diving, kayaking, sailing, wind surfing, cockfighting, horse racing, motor racing, and jai-alai. Jai alai is a version of the Spanish handball (pelota) played between pairs of players and one of the most popular national sports. Despite being a tropical nation, ice skating is a popular sport in the Philippines. |
There are five major sports in the Philippines namely basketball, boxing, billiards, football, and volleyball.
Basketball
Filipinos are among the best basketball players in the world although they are slightly short in height. Basketball is one of the most popular national sports in Philippines and the popularity of the game is evident from the year-round amateur competitions, school championships, provincial meets professional as well as international tournaments. Most of the boys play this game from an early age and every town plaza has a basketball court.
Boxing
Boxing is another popular sport in Philippines producing many world champions. The country has won five Olympic medals and 12 gold medals from the Asian Games. Two of the four Asians enshrined in the New York-based International Boxing Hall of Fame were Filipinos namely Pancho Villa in the older days and Gabriel "Flash" Elorde in the modern category. Apart from Villa and Elorde, the Philippines has produced other world boxing greats like Ceferino Garcia, Ben Villaflor, Erbito Salavarria, Pedro Adigue, Rolando Navarette, Luisito Espinosa, Gerry Penalosa, and Manny Pacquiao.
Billiards
Billiards is one of the three big Bs sports of Philippine being a source of pride for the nation. The game has shot up to popularity lately so much that it has edged out basketball as the number one sports among Filipino youths given the number of pool halls in the country today. Billiards has produced two Asiad gold medals for the Philippines and mere mention of the names such as Bata, Django, Amang and Lining can quickly rouse Filipino billiard buffs with great admiration. Aside from Bata and Django, the Philippines teems with world billiards champions. Jose "Amang" Parica, for example, was the number one pool player in the US in 1997. Other champions include Edgar Acaba, Dodong Andam, Lee Van Corteza, Ramon del Rosario, Ramil Gallego, Warren Kiamco, Antonio "Nikoy" Lining, Rodolfo Luat, Dennis Orcullo, Alex Pagulayan, Santos Sambajon, and Romeo Villanueva.
Football
Football in Philippines was introduced by the British Sailors around the time of 1900’s. The game is quite popular in the provinces of Iloilo, Negros Occidental and Mindanao Island. The Philippine Football Federation based in Pasig City leaves no stone unturned to make the country excel in this sport. In September 2006 the country fell to 195th on the FIFA World Rankings, its lowest ever. By the end of the year, the Philippines moved back up to 171st overall, after a good run in the 2007 ASEAN Football Championship qualification. The important stadiums include Barotac Nuevo Plaza Field, Iloilo Sports Complex, Panaad Stadium, PhilSports Stadium and Rizal Memorial Stadium.
Volleyball
Like other sports, Volleyball is a popular sport in Philippines with great potential to grow in future. The Philippine Volleyball Federation is the governing body of the game acknowledged by the International Volleyball Federation which is the governing body for the sport of volleyball in the world. Currently there are several teams in Philippines playing first class volleyball and the top five volleyball teams are USJR Volleyball Men’s Team in Cebu, Assumption Antipolo in Manila, Vivacious in Parañaque, Lourdes School Quezon City Juniors in Quezon and Cainta Catholic College.
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