Boxer Mark ‘Magnifico’ Magsayo and the Philippine women’s football team Malditas delivered as the country opened 2022 with a bang.
Continuing the Filipino athletes’ triumphant run the previous year, Magsayo wrested the World Boxing Council featherweight title in Atlantic City, while the Malditas clinched a historic ticket to next year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup.
For these feats, the Philippine Sportswriters Association salutes them as the top performers for January.
Magsayo struck gold in his first title shot, beating long-time champ Gary Russell Jr. via majority decision, 114-114, 115-113, 115-113.
He joined Jerwin Ancajas (IBF super flyweight), Rene Mark Cuarto (IBF minimumweight), John Riel Casimero (WBO bantamweight), and Nonito Donaire, Jr. (WBC bantamweight) in the ranks of current Pinoy world champions.
The gritty Malditas, on the other hand, met their date with destiny by scoring a 4-3 victory on penalties over quarterfinal rival Chinese-Taipei in the sprawling city of Pune in Western India.
The famous win sent them to their first-ever semifinal stint in the Asian Cup and sealed their landmark debut in football’s global spectacle set July 2023 in Australia and New Zealand.
Billiards bet Roland Garcia and rowing aces led by Olympian Chris Nievarez also shone in the other battlefronts.
Garcia took runner-up honors in the Arizona 10-Ball Open in Tucson behind Russian Fedor Gorst, who retained the crown with a 4-3, 4-2 verdict.
Nievarez placed second in the U23 2,000 meter event of the Asian Rowing Virtual Indoor Championships to spearhead a six-silver, two-bronze collection for Team Philippines.
In golf, Bianca Pagdanganan led the LPGA in driving distance with her 283-yard average in the Gainbridge LPGA event in Florida, although she missed the cut.
Fil-Japanese Yuka Saso finished solo third in the same competition.