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Philippine curling squad members (from left) Miggy Gutierrez, Benjo Delarmente, Alan Frei, Enrico Pfister, Christian Haller and Marc Pfister.
Contributed photo
MANILA, Philippines — This year’s Valentine’s was truly special for Philippine sports for on the day of love, the country’s men’s curling team made history in China’s “Ice City” of Harbin.
Marc Pfister, Enrico Pfister, Alan Frei, Christian Haller and Benjo Delarmente defied all odds and delivered the gold medal in the unlikeliest of places for tropical Philippines — the Asian Winter Games.
The gritty Pinoys went on a giant-killing spree on the ice rink, taking down Kazakhstan (4-1), Kyrgyzstan (12-2), Chinese-Taipei (11-3), Japan (10-4), host China (7-6), and finally South Korea in the finals (5-3) en route to not producing only the country’s first in the Continental winter joust but Southeast Asia’s biggest achievement there.
For this feat, the Pinoy curlers earned the nod of the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) as its best performing athletes for February.
There were more triumphs and milestones on other fronts.
Two-time Olympian EJ Obiena vaulted to a pair of mints in the European circuit, ruling the Meeting Metz Moselle Athlelor Indoor in Metz, France at 5.70 meters and the Copernicus Cup in Toru?, Poland at a season-best 5.80 meters.
MMA star Joshua Pacio crowned himself the undisputed ONE strawweight champion after beating American rival Jarred Brooks via second-round TKO in their trilogy-ending fight in Qatar.
The Philippines’ men’s beach handball squad scored a milestone in the Southeast Asian Beach Handball Championships in Suphanburi, Thailand.
The Filipinos outclassed Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia to sweep their way to the breakthrough in SEA men’s beach handball tournament. The women’s team complemented this gold with a bronze on its side of competitions.
Pool legend Francisco “Django” Bustamante dished out a vintage performance, reigning supreme in the 29th Annual Jay Swanson Memorial and Predator One Pocket showdown in Las Vegas.
Duathletes Merry Joy Trupa and Kim Mangrobang finished 2 and 3 in the Asia Duathlon Championship in Manama, Bahrain to secure their slots in the coming World Games in Chengdu, China.
