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June Mar Fajardo has been joining Gilas practices in Lebanon with minimal pain in the strained calf that has ruled him out of Gilas' lineup in the first three games. Jerome Ascano

GILAS Pilipinas could play with a complete lineup in its knockout quarterfinals game against rival South Korea in the 2017 Fiba Asia Cup.

Big man June Mar Fajardo disclosed he's ready to play against the dangerous Koreans in the 11:30 p.m. match up at the Nouhad Nawfal Stadium in Beirut, Lebanon.

The 6-foot-10 San Miguel Beer center continued to practice with the team, and while there is still some pain in his strained calf muscle, Fajardo thinks his recovery is all in the mind.

"Getting better. Actually makakalaro na ako," said the three-time PBA MVP in the reality series Kwentong Gilas.

"Ok naman. May discomfort lang. Pero parang sa utak lang na may sumasakit."

Gilas Pilipinas resident therapist Dexter Aseron assured Fajardo is ready to go, having personally seen his progress from the injury since the team departed from Manila to the Lebanese capital more than a week ago.

"Maganda yung progression niya from injury. Its getting stronger everyday, hopefully he gets to play kahit for a few minutes," said Aseron on the eve of the match against South Korea.

Two others in the injury list in Christian Standhardinger and Calvin Abueva are also likely to play, according to Aseron.

The long-time national team therapist said he expects Standhardinger to be close to 100 percent fit again after missing Gilas' last game against Qatar due to severe stiff neck and shoulder injury.

On the other hand, Abueva, who sprained his ankle in the team's 90-84 win over the Qataris, still has some swelling on his injured foot, but which Aseron described as manageable.

"He's (Abueva) feeling better pero may konting swelling pa. Hopefully we get the swelling down more," said Aseron, who had been busy the past few days attending to injured players in the team.

"Well do some strengthenining pa before the game (against Korea)."

While coach Chot Reyes was happy seeing the team practiced with everybody accounted for going to its most important outing in the Asian spectacle, he said the coaching staff made the practice just a bit light in order not to further aggravate the health concern of the players.

"We were sharp mentally today. It's hard to push them anymore than we did (Tuesday), 60 to 70 percent. We didnt want to take the risk of another guy sufferring another pulled muscle or twisted ankle," said the Gilas mentor.

"We didnt want to take the risk of another guy going down."

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Fit-again June Mar Fajardo ready to play in Gilas knockout game against South Korea - Sports Interactive Network Philippines

Basketball

By Paul Lintag on Aug 16, 2017 09:30 AM

It's the Philippines vs. South Korea in a knockout game.

This matchup between eternal basketball rivals really needs no introduction if you really think about it.

But for the benefit of everyone, let's proceed.

The latest installment of the Philippines-South Korea rivalry will have a semifinals slot on the line, one step closer to the Asian championship.

Gilas Pilipinas actually got a bye in the first round of the knockout stages, advancing to the quarterfinals outright after sweeping Group B with a clean 3-0 mark.

The Philippines scored a vengeful win over China to open preliminary play in Beirut and now, all of a sudden, Gilas Pilipinas is one of the favorites to win the entire tournament.

Despite falling to third place in Group C, the Koreans didn't exaclty sturggle in the FIBA-Asia Cup.

Following an opening-day loss to hosts Lebanon, South Korea has won three games in a row, including an upset of New Zealand to finish the preliminary round.

Korea then took down Japan n its first knockout game to set the highly-anticipated clash with the Philippines.

This will be the first time the two countries will meet in FIBA-Asia since 2013 where Gilas Pilipinas scored an 86-79 win in the semifinals.

According to FIBA's website for the 2017 Asia Cup, the Korean's hold a 14-9 advantage over the Philippines in head-to-head matchups although it's important to note that basketball's world governing body do not recognize games played in tournaments like the Asian games and the Jones Cup.

Gilas Pilipinas will meet South Korea on Wednesday with tip off at 11:30 p.m. local time.

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Follow this writer on Twitter, @paullintag8

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Korea stands in the way of Gilas Pilipinas' march to FIBA-Asia semis - ABS-CBN Sports

Nice manager Lucien Favre explains the club's decision to rest Wesley Sneijder and Mario Balotelli against Napoli in the UCL.

Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri has called on his club to do the city proud and prove they belong in the Champions League by beating Nice to reach the group stage.

The Azzurri face Nice, who will be without Mario Balotelli for Wednesday night's clash at the Stadio San Paolo due to injury, for a place in the lucrative group stage of European football's elite competition.

It is a game which could make or break Napoli's season before the first round of Serie A matches are played next weekend, and Sarri wants his team to prove their march to the quarterfinals last year was no fluke.

"We need to get through -- we are representing a city worthy of the Champions League and we want to get them in there," Sarri said at a news conference on Tuesday.

The manager simultaneously warned how hard it is going to be for his side to buck a worrying trend for Italian clubs of falling at the playoff hurdle.

Since Inter became the last Italian club to win the Champions League in 2010, only AC Milan in 2013 have succeeded in reaching the group stage via an August fixture, which Sarri says Italian clubs simply are not ready for.

"Our condition is decent, or as decent as it can be for an Italian side at this stage of the year," Sarri said. "Facts show that it's a difficult moment for us Italian clubs, and now we got drawn against a strong team -- one who beat Ajax -- who were in the Europa League final just a few months ago. This is an extremely difficult game for us, especially given the time of the year.

"We are not yet up to speed and we are already a side who tend to concede something, and this is a knockout game so we've got to be careful that we don't give anything away in this game."

If Napoli succeed where Sampdoria, Udinese, Roma, Lazio and even they have failed over the past seven years, they will earn another shot at measuring up to some of Europe's top clubs, having shown last year that they are no gatecrashers when it comes to the Champions League.

"Last year, both in the league and the Champions League, we proved we are a great team," said Lorenzo Insigne. "We've continued to work on the errors we made. We were beaten by Real Madrid, but I think we played a great game and showed we can hold our own at these levels.

"Now we want to prove again that we deserve to be in the Champions League."

Nice coach Lucien Favre is no stranger to the Champions League either, although he will be looking to improve on his last taste of the competition, with Borussia Monchengladbach just two years ago.

He surprised many by guiding the Foals into the group stage by virtue of finishing third in the Bundesliga in 2014-15 and he is hoping to spring another surprise having already upset Ajax in the third qualifying round.

He says his team will have to do even better than they did against their Dutch rivals if they are to send the Italians out, however.

"This game is going to be particularly hard against a great team who are much stronger than Ajax," he said in Naples. "We've watched a lot of their games and seen how they keep possession and how quick they are. It's not going to be easy."

Favre will be without summer signing Wesley Sneijder, in addition to Balotelli, who is not 100 percent fit.

"We don't want to take any risks on Mario," Favre said. "I'm worried he might suffer a setback, while Sneijder's not done all of preseason and still needs to work individually. Sadly they are both unavailable."

Both missed Nice's 2-1 defeat at home to Troyes at the weekend, as the Cote d'Azur side lost their second Ligue 1 fixture from the opening two games of the French league season.

Ben Gladwell reports on Serie A, the Italian national team and the Bundesliga for ESPN FC, UEFA and the Press Association. @UEFAcomBenG.

Link:
Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri calls on team to show they belong in UCL - ESPN FC

Basketball

By Paul Lintag on Aug 13, 2017 10:51 PM

It wasn't the most flawless outing for the Philippines in the 2017 FIBA-Asia Cup but Gilas just had too much firepower for Qatar to handle.

Practically playing a no-bearing game, Gilas Pilipinas managed to escape a tough Qatar crew, 80-74, Sunday at the Nouhad Nawfal Sports Complex in Beirut, Lebanon.

Gilas' close win over the Qataris allowed the Filipinos to sweep Group B with a clean 3-0 mark. The Philippines hasadvanced to the quarterfinals outright and will next play on Wednesday (Thursday morning, PHL time), giving the team an extra two days of rest.

The nationals will now wait for the winner of Japan and South Korea in the playoffs. The East Asian rivals will meet Monday in a knockout game.

Still without June Mar Fajardo, Gilas Pilipinas entered the Qatar game minus Christian Standhardinger who dealt with a bad case of stiffneck.

The Philippines also lost Calvin Abueva to an apparent left foot injury late in the first half. He didn't return to the game.

With health woes to three of its most reliable interior players, Gilas Pilipinas turned to its outside gunners to keep Qatar at bay.

Fil-Canadian Matthew Wright exploded from deep, burying seven triples on his way to a game-high 25 points. Wright also dished out four asssists in over 32 minutes of play.

Carl Bryan Cruz was likewise reliable from the outside, making three treys of his own to finish with 13 points. Veteran forward Gabe Norwood was an all-around beast with 10 points, seven rebounds, five assists, and two blocks.

Gilas Pilipinas appeared to have the game in total control after opening up a 20-point lead in the third quarter, displaying the same effort from the Iraq game.

However, Qatar would simply not go away, even cutting the deficit down to five points late in the fourth before the Philippines managed to hold on.

Mansour Elhadary was the top performer forQatar after he collected 23 points, three rebounds, six assists, and three steals.

The Scores:

PHILIPPINES 80 - Wright 25, Cruz 13, Norwood 10, Romeo 10, Castro William 6, Pogoy 5, Almazan 4, Aguilar 3, Abueva 2, Jalalon 2.

QATAR 74 - Elhadary 23, Saad 18, Erfan 9, Abdelhaleem 8, Al-Muftah 6, Mohamed 6, Mohmmed 4, Abdelkawy 0, Al-Darwish 0, Al-Rayes 0.

Quarters: 25-16, 41-27, 59-47, 80-74.

---

Follow this writer on Twitter, @paullintag8

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Gilas Pilipinas escapes Qatar to sweep Group B - ABS-CBN Sports

Jamoneisha Merritt, 11, went to sleep Sunday night, near another young girl she believed to be her friend. Now the young girl doesn't know what she looks like anymore.

Her shoulders and neck are scarred and bulbous. In one photo from a hospital bed, Jamoneisha's eyes are shut, her face pink from a layer of skin vaporized by scalding water.

She's still beautiful to her mother.

Jamoneisha was allegedly attacked by another girl at the sleepover in the Bronx, N.Y., with a cup of boiling water, her mother Ebony Merritt said to local media stations.

Merritt told NY1 that her daughter, who she affectionately calls "Monie," is wounded not just physically but emotionally after the 12-year old poured the water over Jamoneisha as she slept. Now she is recovering in serious but stable condition, according to police.

Merritt told local media Jamoneisha is not ready to see the full extent of her potentially lifelong injuries, so she has limited her daughter's ability to look at herself.

A New York Police Department statement released to The Washington Post said the 12-year old girl was arrested Monday night and charged with second-degree assault.

"She don't understand why they did that to her. She thought they was her friends," Merritt told the station. "I was told that they didn't like her. And they just been bullying her." Merritt also took to Facebook to tell other parents to discourage children about following social media challenges.

It was not immediately clear if the alleged attacker told police she was inspired by internet videos.

Yolanda Richardson told the local NBC affiliate that her cousin Jamoneisha and the other girl argued the night before the attack.

"[The other girl] told her if she goes to sleep they were going to do something to her," Yolanda said.

Merritt believes her daughter is the victim of a social media-fueled prank called the hot water challenge, a potentially dangerous dare in which teenagers and kids boil water and throw it on an unsuspecting victim.

Ki'ari Pope, an 8-year old girl from Florida, died in late July, months after she drank boiling water from a straw after her and a cousin watched a video of a similar act on YouTube, the Associated Press reported. Her mother, Marquisia Bonner, said Ki'ari had problems breathing after a tracheotomy removed scar tissue from her windpipe.

The pair of incidents are wrinkles of an old digital phenomenon - kids egged on by social media missions created on the dark corners of the Web, provoking them to do something incredibly dangerous to themselves or others.

Suicides, assaults and accidents have been traced back to internet fads like the blue whale challenge, which purportedly asks participants to complete a list of mundane and dangerous activities ranging from watching a horror film and self-mutilation.

One Texas teenager allegedly killed himself last month as part of the challenge, his parents say.

Other apparent criminal acts do not have a clear connection between online challenges and real world violence. The so-called knockout game, which called for kids to attack unsuspecting people from behind in an effort to knock them unconscious, sent parents, teachers and cable news into a frenzy.

It was also found to mostly be a hoax, a scary sounding and Facebook-ready phenomenon grafted onto random assaults, a report found.

But Jamoneisha's life-altering burns are very real. And her mother has reason to believe digital taunting transformed into real violence, she told NY1.

"They've been on Snapchat. It's been going on several times. The girl admitted it. 'I don't like her. I wanted to do it,'" she said.

Jamoneisha's family, who could not be reached by The Post, has been at her bedside through the recovery process, in an update with NY1.

"She seemed to still have the same energy like nothing ain't change her. She's still smiling, joking. laughing, yeah she's doing good though," Starshanae Nixon, Jamoneisha's cousin, told the network.

Washington Post News Service (DC)

8/11/2017 5:15:21 AM Central Daylight Time

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Mom blames online challenge after daughter doused with boiling water at sleepover - Winston-Salem Journal