HERE are the top sports news from Thursday.
Sports news April 6
Teams with two first-round picks in 2023 PBA Draft
Rain or Shine is not the only team with two first-round picks in this year’s PBA Draft.
Terrafirma and NorthPort also have a pair of first-round selections, thanks to being on the wrong end of blockbuster trades.
Aside from their own pick at No. 5, the Batang Pier will also select one more time late in the first round after getting the draft right of Barangay Ginebra from the Jamie Malonzo trade. Malonzo was traded to Ginebra last September for Arvin Tolentino, Prince Caperal, and the first round choice.
The Dyip, on the other hand, will also have another selection after getting San Miguel’s pick from the trade involving CJ Perez where he was sent to San Miguel last February 21.
Read more about it here.
Alfrancis Chua on SMB showing under Gallent
SMC sports director Alfrancis Chua reflected on the performances of San Miguel and Magnolia in the season-ending conference, sticking to the positives after falling short in their respective campaigns.
San Miguel, on the other hand, finished as the second seed with a 9-2 mark, then dispatched Converge in the quarterfinals,
The Beermen, though, simply found their match in Ginebra, which outclassed them in a rare sweep in a best-of-five series in the Final Four.
“San Miguel, they were playing so well. Of course, hindi naman madali yung nakalaban nila (sa semis). Mabigat din yung nakalaban,” Chua said.
Winless in their first three games with Eric McCree, Magnolia turned to former Terrafirma reinforcement Antonio Hester, who led the Chicken Timplados Hotshots to a 7-1 record for the rest of the eliminations to finish as the No. 5 seed.
The Hotshots, however, gave up a late seven-point lead to Meralco in the quarterfinals, allowing the twice-to-beat Bolts to escape with the win in overtime to advance to the semifinals.
“Siguro kinulang,” Chua said. “Panalo dapat pero sa huli, nagkulang. Nahabol sila. But basically, when they changed their import, maganda yung run nila. So okay naman.”
SEA Games volleyball re-draw
The Philippine men’s volleyball team will be able to play in the Cambodia Southeast Asian Games in May after all.
The Cambodia Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (CAMSOC) agreed to a re-draw for the men’s volleyball competition after the Philippine Olympic Committee overlooked men's volleyball during the submission deadline of the country's entry by names in February.
POC president Bambol Tolentino said that secretary-general and CEO HE Chamroeun accepted the POC oversight and convinced the CAMSOC to conduct the re-draw.
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