Sports in the Philippines

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Rural children playing basketball in the Philippines.

Sports in the Philippines is an important part of the country's culture. There are five major sports in the Philippines. These are basketball, boxing, football, billiards and volleyball. Despite being a tropical nation, ice skating is a popular sport in the Philippines.[1][2] Sports such as athletics, weightlifting, aerobics, and martial arts are also popular recreations.

Among the others there are: badminton, baseball, bowling, swimming, wrestling, underwater diving, kayaking, sailing, windsurfing, cockfighting, horse racing, Cricket, Australian rules football, motor racing, sepak takraw, and jai alai are also appreciated. With the sport of cockfighting being wildly popular in the Philippines, attracting large crowds who bet on the outcome of fights between the birds,[3] and the sport itself a popular form of fertility worship among almost all Southeast Asians.[4] Such sports activity as the sport of cockfighting, related to ritual forms of worship as practices and rituals of ancient worship intended for the blessings of the supernatural, as "in Indus Valley and other ancient civilizations, mother goddess had been invoked for fertility and prosperity"[5] which included that religious cockfight lay as a prime example of "cultural synthesis of 'little' and 'great' cultures"[6] due to religious syncretisms causing the loss for some of religious significance and hence a sport, while remaining for some as a form of ‘fertility worship’ and still for others as Baal or Baalim.

On July 27, 2009, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signed Republic Act No. 9850 into law, declaring Modern Arnis as the Philippine National Martial Art and Sport.[7]

Olympics

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Main article: Philippines at the Olympics

The Philippines has participated in all editions of the Olympics except in 1980 when it joined the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics. The country is also the first tropical nation to participate at the Winter Olympics, debuting at the 1972 edition and has participated in three other edition of the winter games. Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) is the National Olympic Committee of the Philippines.

Differently-abled Sport

The Philippine Sports Association for the Differently Abled—National Paralympic Committee of the Philippines (PhilSPADA-NPC Philippines), is the national sports association for physically impaired athletes, tasked to spearhead developing sport competency for Filipino persons with disabilities. It is the Philippine National Paralympic Committee recognized by the International Paralympic Committee[8]

PHILSPADA-NPC Philippines works with the International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA)[9], Philippine Sports Commission, the Philippine Olympic Committee and Philippine National Sport associations to select and send qualified differently abled Philippine athletes to regional multi-sport competitions such as the ASEAN Para Games (parallel to the SEA Games), the Asian Para Games (parallel to the Asian Games) or to the elite level Paralympic Games (parallel to the Olympics), as well as national sport competitions for the differently abled.

The Philippine delegation of 64 Filipino differently abled athletes recently competed in the 2015 ASEAN Para Games, a multi-sport event held from 3 to 9 December 2015, in Singapore. Among the athletes were Paralympians, seasoned veterans and a few debutants to the Games. The para athletes won a total 59 medals which placed the Philippines at 7th place out of 10 ASEAN nations, bringing home medals in the various sports:

  • 16 Gold medals (Athletics, Chess, Powerlifting, Swimming, Table Tennis)
  • 17 Silver medals (Athletics, Chess, Sailing, Swimming, Table Tennis, Tenpin Bowling)
  • 26 Bronze medals (Athletics, Chess, Sailing, Swimming, Table Tennis, Tenpin Bowling, Wheelchair Basketball)

Four athletes having attained the necessary qualifying criteria in the APG 2015, are set to compete in the 2016 Rio Paralympics. PhilSPADA-NPC Philippines hopes a few more athletes will qualify within the next few months for the upcoming Paralympic Games.

Individual Sports

Boxing

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Main article: Boxing in the Philippines

Boxing is among the most popular individual sports in the Philippines. Some Filipino boxers such as Manny Pacquiao are recognized internationally. The Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines is the governing body for amateur boxing in the country.

Figure Skating

Ice skating rinks used as venues for figure skating are limited to shopping malls in the country, particularly in the Metro Manila area. The first ice skating rink in the country was opened in 1992 at SM Megamall in Mandaluyong. The first Olympic sized ice skating rink was opened at the SM Mall of Asia. An ice skating rink also operates in SM Southmall. There are more figure skating coaches in the Philippines than ice hockey coaches and the first Filipino ice skating coaches were roller skaters. The Philippine Championship is a national competitive for ice skating in which the winner gets to represent the country in international competitions.[10] The Philippines has also managed to qualify and send a figure skater to the 2014 Winter Olympics becoming the first Southeast Asian country to do so at the Winter Olympics. The said figure skater was Michael Christian Martinez.[11]

Team Sports

American football

American football is a relatively new sport to the Philippines and people often confused it with both codes of rugby football. ArenaBall Philippines currently holds a 4 team competition. Since August 2013, a fifth team joined-in marking its first official expansion team in the league. Apart from that, American Football Federation of the Philippines, the organization behind the Philippine Punishers and lately Philippine Valkyries, the former's female counterpart, has been actively competing against other Asian regents such as Shanghai, Hong Kong, Saipan and US Guam Confederate.

Famous Filipino players to have played in the National Football League in the United States include Eugene Amano, Tim Tebow, Roman Gabriel, Tedy Bruschi, Chris Gocong, Steve Slaton, Aaron Francisco, Jordan Dizon, and Doug Baldwin.

The Philippines also organizes a men's national team.

Association football

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Main article: Football in the Philippines
The Philippine Sports Stadium, the largest football stadium in the country

The Philippine national football team or Azkals, is the national football team of the Philippines, and is controlled by the Philippine Football Federation (PFF). The United Football League (Philippines) is the Top Flight football league in the country, the (PFF) are planning to launch a National Football League this 2015 or 2016, each club's will represent their respective Cities or Provinces and required to have a youth squad for the Youth League. It will also help to promote football awareness and grassroots program to the young Filipino footballers who admires to play professional football.

Baseball

The Philippine national baseball team is ranked 22nd on the IBAF World Rankings, and after the WBC Qualification tournament held at Taiwan in 2013, baseball in the Philippines is gradually gaining popularity.

Basketball

A PBA basketball game at the Mall of Asia Arena.
A PBA basketball game at the Mall of Asia Arena.

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Main article: Basketball in the Philippines

Basketball is considered to be the most popular sport in the Philippines and is played on both the amateur and professional level. The professional league in the Philippines is the Philippine Basketball Association and currently runs a 12 team competition, but also in Asia's professional basketball league after the National Basketball Association. The national team is popularly known as Gilas Pilipinas and has recently qualified to compete in the 2014 FIBA World Cup.

Rugby league

Rugby league is a relatively unknown sport in the Philippines and is often mistaken for rugby union and even American football but is growing rapidly since its inception in 2012. The Philippines National Rugby League are the governing body and are responsible for the growth of rugby league in the Philippines. The sport was introduced to the Philippine Merchant Marine Academys by Australian expats.[12][13]Clubs have also been established by Papua New Guinean expats and students (where rugby league is their national sport).[14][15][16]

The national team are known as the Tamaraws and represents the country in international rugby league competition.

Rugby union

A rugby union match between the national teams of the Philippines vs Iran (A lineout)

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Main article: Rugby union in the Philippines

The Philippine Rugby Football Union was founded in 1999 and is the governing body of rugby union in the Philippines. There are currently around 12 schools playing rugby union in the Philippines and 10 teams that compete in regular competition. The national team is known as the Volcanoes and competes in the Asian 5 Nations and the Asian Seven Series.

See also

Notes

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Bomb hits Philippines cock-fight - BBC - 14 April 2012
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ A Panorama of Indian Culture: Professor A. Sreedhara Menon Felicitation Volume - K. K. Kusuman - Mittal Publications, 1990 - p.130"[1]"
  6. ↑ A Panorama of Indian Culture: Professor A. Sreedhara Menon Felicitation Volume - K. K. Kusuman - Mittal Publications, 1990 - p.127-128"[2]"
  7. ↑ Republic Act No. 9850, Chan Robles Law Library.
  8. ↑ International Paralympic Committee
  9. ↑ International Paralympic Committee nonprofit representative for blind sport
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ http://www.philippineconsulate.com.au/home/4-latest-news/399-phl-teams-become-rising-stars-at-rugby-league-competition-in-new-south-wales-australia.pdf
  13. ↑ http://www.rugbyleagueplanet.com/rlp-nations/philippines/1054-rugby-league-in-the-philippine-merchant-marine-academy
  14. ↑ http://www.looppng.com/content/png-coached-manila-league-team-set-first-match
  15. ↑ http://www.emtv.com.pg/article.aspx?slug=Batanga-Warriors-PNG-Rugby-League-in-Philippines&subcategory=Sports
  16. ↑ http://www.rugbyleagueplanet.com/rlp-nations/philippines/2534-png-students-establish-a-rugby-league-team-at-the-university-of-batangas-philippines

External links

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