Willy Wang did the country proud again after flashing his old deadly form to win a gold medal in the seventh Asian Wushu Championship Thursday at the TaShi Gymnasium in Macau.

Wang, also a gold-medal winner in last year’s World Wushu Championship, totaled 9.65 points to beat Vietnamese Pam Quoc Khanh (9.64) and Hong Kong’s He Jiing De (9.63) for first place in nandao (Southern single-edged sword).

“I am happy I was able to redeem myself. I disappointed many people with my performance in the previous events,” said the 18-year-old Wang, the former Asian junior champion.

He also took the opportunity to express his gratitude to San Miguel Corp., FG Foundation for financing the RP wushu team’s training in China and the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) for sponsoring their trip.

“My winning the gold medal is my way of saying thank you to them,” he added.

Earlier, Wang, lacking speed in his routine, settled for second place in his pet event—the nanquan (Southern fist)—won by China’s Huang Guangyuan (9.64-9.65).

Wushu Federation Philippines honorary life president Francis Chan, association president Julian Camacho and vice presidents Alvin Tai Lian and Ana Gan held a pep talk the night before, where Chan announced a P100,000 incentive for every gold won.

Mary Stephanie Agbay and Daniel Parantac placed eight and 17th in taijiquan, respectively.

Four other Filipino bets Mariane Mariano (60 kg), Jason Domingo (48 kg), Dembert Arcita (52 kg) and Benjie Rivera (60 kg) all settled for silver medals after losing in the finals of their respective events against entries from China.

Mariano was a gold-medal winner in last year’s Southeast Asian Games in Thailand.

Mark Eddiva is also assured of a silver medal as he is set to clash against an opponent from Macao in the final of the 65-kg class.

In the distaff side, May Jane Estimar tries to hurdle Nguyen Thuy Ngan of Vietnam in the 52-kg category.

Seventh (Game) Heaven

Pro football unquestionably has become America’s sporting obsession. There’s no offseason anymore. There’s no month when the National Football League (NFL) isn’t front and center in the culture’s consciousness.

F.E.U. men, women march in Nike tourney

FAR Eastern University (FEU) relied on nerves of steel as two of its teams nosed out determined opponents in the Nike Summer League basketball tournament Saturday at the FEU Gym.

GABE NORWOOD, the do-it-all Filipino-American of Hapee Toothpaste, turned out as the major stumbling block in Jason Castro’s dream of cornering his third Most Valuable Player (MVP) award.

TOP officials of Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) urged BAP-Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (BAP-SBP) president Manny V. Pangilinan to honor the Bangkok Agreement to have a “true, unified basketball federation” in the country.

THE Philippines did not lose a match in the 2008 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Challenge Cup qualifiers in Iloilo, but still failed to qualify for the tournament proper set from July 30 to August 10 in Hyderabad, India.

Willy Wang did the country proud again after flashing his old deadly form to win a gold medal in the seventh Asian Wushu Championship Thursday at the TaShi Gymnasium in Macau.

University of St. La Salle (USLS)-Bacolod spoiled University of San Jose-Recoletos’ (USJ-R) bid for a crack at the last semifinal berth as it fashioned out a 25-23, 23-25, 25-11, 25-13 victory Sunday to pave the way for Lyceum’s stint in the next round at the close of the quarterfinal phase in the Shakey’s V-League Season 5 at The Arena in San Juan.

WHEN those 1970’s Boston Celtics ran onto the court of their opponent’s arena, Paul Silas would routinely ask the sportswriters how many people they thought were in attendance.