NEws

Manny Pacquiao vs Ricky Hatton

"Pacquiao vs Hatton!" "Pacquiao vs. Hatton!" Pacquiao vs Hatton!" There seems to be an outcry for Manny Pacquiao (the fighting pride of the Philippines) to fight Ricky Hatton of England. In fact, news reports from has it that Manny will fight Ricky next year. Good. I have nothing against this fight. In fact I think Pacquiao vs Hatton will be an exciting one as both fighters love action and would press for it. People in Pacland (mannypacquiao.ph) are pumped up for the match and one has already prepared a banner plus a title "Never Back Down". So true, both fighters are aggressive and always moving forward.

There are observations that Ricky Hatton is tailored fit for Manny - it means Ricky's style is very much suited to Pacquiao and I agree. Others think Hatton is a moving target...I agree but not an easy one as he pushes, shoves, and wrestles his opponent when needed. Against Mayweather, Hatton used it - the Englishman used it so much that the boxing match almost turned into a wrestling one. Ricky uses it to put off his opponent's rhythm but it didn't work against Mayweather as the latter could handle it. I believe Manny will study on how to counter Ricky's tendency to roughouse his opponent. Other than that I reckon it will be good for Manny and his camp not to underestimate this guy as it leads to complacency and disaster. Manny is at his best when he is the underdog and odds are stacked against him (Ledwaba, Barrera 2003, De La Hoya). No, I'm not saying that Manny's underestimating Hatton but some people in his entourage might convince him otherwise. It is important for the Pound for Pound king to stay level-headed and work hard to win. Ricky Hatton holds a 140-pound title belt from IBO by no means he is a pushover and this should be an extra motivation to Pacquiao - to win a junior welterweight crown. Same goes for English fans. If they know what's good for them they shouldn't belittle Manny Pacquiao's punching power.

NEws

Philippine hostages make appeal

Jolo is known to be a base for the Abu Sayyaf group

Three aid workers taken hostage in the Philippines have made a radio appeal for talks to secure their release.

The hostages from the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) said they were unharmed and in regular contact with local ICRC officials.

But they told the radio station they did not know what their captors wanted.

The three were seized by armed gunmen on 15 January on Jolo Island in the southern Philippines where they were working on a sanitation project.

"[I appeal] to the government and to the ICRC to do their best there so that this ordeal will be solved. Please try to... deal with them to try to find a way to pull us out," said one of the hostages Eugenio Vagni, 62, of Italy said on-air.

FlOWers

valentine's romance

Olympic gold medalist Saari dies at 63

LOS ANGELES -- Roy Saari, a former world record-holding swimmer and gold medalist at the 1964 Olympics, has died. He was 63.
Saari, who won nine NCAA individual titles at the University of Southern California, died Tuesday in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., USC announced Friday. No cause of death was given.
Saari set four world records in his career, including a time of 16 minutes, 58.7 seconds in the 1500-meter freestyle that was the first mark below 17 minutes in the event.
He swam on the United States' Olympic champion 800-meter freestyle relay team at the 1964 games in Tokyo, and earned a silver medal in the 400 individual medley. He also finished fourth in the 400 freestyle and seventh in the 1500 freestyle.
A member of three NCAA championship swim teams at USC from 1964-66, he also was a three-time All-American on the Trojans' water polo team.
Saari was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1976 and the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame in 1982.
Following his swimming career, he became an attorney and later a real estate agent and planning commissioner in the resort community of Mammoth Lakes.
He is survived by his widow, Sheryl; daughter Joani Lynch, son Jeff and several grandchildren. Services are pending.

Canada advances to eighth straight world juniors championship

OTTAWA -- Jordan Eberle and John Tavares scored in a shootout and Canada beat Russia 6-5 on Saturday night to advance to world junior hockey championship final for the eighth straight season.
Eberle, a first-round pick of the Edmonton Oilers who plays for the Regina Pats in the Western Hockey League, scored twice in regulation, the second with 5 seconds left and goalie Dustin Tokarski off for an extra attacker.
"I didn't ever give up and I think that's the biggest thing for Team Canada," Eberle said. "We didn't give up all throughout the game.
"We obviously realize the pressure on us, but pressure is one of those things you just push aside and you apply it, rather than feel it."
Canada will face Sweden -- a 5-3 winner over Slovakia in the first semifinal -- on Monday night. Last year in the Czech Republic, Canada beat Sweden 3-2 in overtime in the final for its fourth straight title.
Canada is trying to match its record of five straight titles, set from 1993-97.
"There's nothing else we want," said Tavares, the Oshawa star expected to be one of the top picks in the NHL draft. "There's nothing else we came here for."
Tokarski stopped Pavel Chernov on Russia's second shootout attempt to end the game. On Russia's first attempt, Dmitri Kurgryshev hit the post after Eberle scored.
"We knew what the goalie's tendency was and he has a tendency to go down," Eberle said. "Me and Johnny kind of did the same move, opposite hands."
Brett Sonne, Patrice Cormier and Angelo Esposito also scored in regulation, and Tokarski made 23 saves. Dmitri Klopov scored twice for Russia, and Maxim Goncharov, Evgeni Grachev and Sergei Andronov added goals. Vadim Zhelobnyuk made 36 saves.
"I don't believe it," Goncharov said. "It's very hard."
Klopov gave Russia the lead for the first time with 2:20 left in the third period, but with 19,327 fans at Scotiabank Place on their feet, Eberle tied it. Russian defenseman Dmitri Kulikov was on his knees in front of the net trying to freeze the puck, but Eberle stole it and scored on a backhander.
"That's the great thing about Canadians," Tavares said. "We don't quit and we fight right until the end, no matter what, and that little extra effort right at the end made the difference for us to tie the game and get into a shootout."
In the first semifinal, Mikael Backlund scored twice, and David Ullstrom, Simon Hjalmarsson and Oscar Moller added goals for Sweden in a comeback victory.
Tomas Tatar scored twice and Marek Mertel had a goal and two assists for Slovakia, a surprise semifinalist after a 5-3 quarterfinal win over the United States on Friday.
"We knew what we were doing - we knew Slovakia is a good team," Swedish defenseman Victor Hedman said. "They were up 2-1 before the last period, but we knew we were a stronger team than them and they had a tough game [Friday]."
Backlund tied it at 2 on a power-play at 7:04 of the third, Ullstrom gave Sweden the lead at 8:52, and Hjalmarsson made it 4-2 at 11:42.
"We were patient and worked hard the whole game," Backlund said. "We saw them play the American team and we knew if they got the first goal they would be hard to beat and they were hard to beat. I thought, `I don't want to go home now. I want to play in the final.' I was a little bit scared, so it feels good that we won the game."
The Slovaks pulled goalie Jaroslav Janus for an extra attacker with 4:30 left, and Tatar scored his second of the game with 4:02 to go.
Moller scored into an empty net with 1:17 left.
Janus made 47 saves, a night after stopping 44 U.S. shots.
"We could have won this game, but in the third period, we stopped playing for 5 minutes and they scored four goals," said Janus, who plays for the Erie Otters in the Ontario Hockey League. "It's pretty sad, but we have another game and hopefully we'll get a bronze medal. We played well, but when you lose, it's still a bad feeling."
The tournament has drawn a record 377,834 fans, breaking the mark of 374,353 set in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 2006.

Hansen loses bronze medal after horse tests positive

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- Norwegian rider Tony Andre Hansen was stripped of his Olympic bronze medal in team jumping Monday after his horse tested positive for a banned drug at the Beijing Games.
Hansen was disqualified by the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) and banned from the sport for 4½ months.
The 29-year-old Hansen was the best performer on a four-rider Norway team that won bronze under a scoring system in which the top three count.
"We believe this judgment is completely wrong," Hansen told Norwegian Web site VG Nett. "The judgment didn't come as a shock, but it seems clear that we will take this matter further."
Without his scores, his Norway teammates -- Morten Djupvik, Stein Endresen and Geir Gulliksen -- drop out of medal contention.
The fourth-place Switzerland team of Steve Guerdat, Christina Liebherr, Niklaus Schurtenberger and Pius Schwizer will now be awarded the bronze medals by the International Olympic Committee.
The United States won gold, beating Canada in a jumpoff in Hong Kong, where the equestrian events were staged in August.
Hansen's horse, Camiro, tested positive for capsaicin, a banned pain-relieving medication derived from chili peppers.
"This is just the first round. We're not surprised, but we are very disappointed," said Morten Steenstrup, Hansen's lawyer.
Steenstrup added that the traces of capsaicin were so small that "it hasn't had any performance-enhancing effect."
Hansen was provisionally suspended and did not complete the individual jumping competition. His ban Monday was backdated and runs through Jan. 2, 2009.
"[It is each person's] duty to ensure that no prohibited substance is present in his or her horse's body during an event," the FEI said.
The FEI described Hansen as an experienced sportsman with an impeccable record who would suffer the hardship of losing an Olympic medal.
However, the FEI added that "the behavior of anyone at the top of the sport and particularly at the Olympic Games must be faultless."
Hansen faced two daylong hearings, in September and November, at an FEI tribunal before the governing body reached its verdict. The tribunal said Hansen didn't explain how capsaicin came to be present in his horse.
Although the drug can be used out-of-competition as a legal medication, it is also classified as a doping substance if used to inflame a horse's legs. This is done to encourage horses to jump higher because striking an obstacle becomes more painful.
Hansen was fined $2,740. The FEI also ordered him to pay $7,300 toward its legal costs because his defense tactics prolonged the case.
He can appeal the ruling within 30 days to the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS).
It is the sixth and final drug test case from the Olympic equestrian events to be decided.
Hansen is the fourth rider disqualified and suspended in cases involving capsaicin: Germany's Christian Ahlmann was suspended for four months, Brazil's Bernardo Alves for 3½ months, and Irish rider Denis Lynch got a three-month ban.
Ahlmann's ban expired last Thursday but the German equestrian federation has asked CAS to extend it to at least eight months.
Brazil's Rodrigo Pessoa, the individual jumping gold medalist in 2004, was disqualified and banned for 4½ months after his horse tested positive for nonivamide, a banned pain-relieving medication.
Courtney King of the United States was disqualified and banned for one month because her horse Mythilus tested positive for felbinac, a banned anti-inflammatory medication.