PBA: June Mar Fajardo nears 10,000 points but puts team first

Inquirer.net - Oct 14, 2026

MANILA, Philippines–June Mar Fajardo moved five points shy of becoming the 19th player in history to reach the 10,000-point club after scoring 25 in San Miguel Beer’s 135-105 win over Terrafirma in the 2026 PBA Governors’ Cup. Fajardo’s conference-high allowed him to move closer to the exclusive list, but he elected not to go for

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PBA: Meralco keeps pace in crowded quarterfinal chase
Oct 14, 2026

PBA: Meralco keeps pace in crowded quarterfinal chase

MANILA, Philippines–Meralco knows anything can still happen, even as it gained ground in the wild chase for the three remaining quarterfinal spots in Group B of the 2026 PBA Governors’ Cup. The Bolts came away with a 120-115 win over the Blackwater Bossing on Tuesday to climb into fourth with a 4-5 record going into

NLEX blasts Titan Ultra, boosts top seed bid
Oct 14, 2026

NLEX blasts Titan Ultra, boosts top seed bid

MANILA, Philippines — NLEX stepped on the gas in the last two quarters to pulverize Titan Ultra, 147-115 for its ninth win in 11 starts, putting the team in a better position to seal the top seed in the PBA Season 50 Governors’ Cup playoffs. The Road Warriors exploded for 37 and 45 points in the second half, thanks to their firepower that came from the bench that sent the Giant Risers reeling to their ninth loss against just two victories, thus tying the Macau Giant Pandas at the bottom of the Group A standings. Deonte Burton, playing in just his second game in an NLEX uniform since replacing injured DeQuan Jones, led the Road Warriors with 21 points, nine rebounds, seven assists, three steals and two blocks in a huge all-around effort. Robert Bolick added 20 points, five rebounds and eight assists, Kevin Alas added 19, while rookie LJ Gonzales and Robert Herndon chipped in 17 and 16, respectively. NLEX outrebounded Titan Ultra, 55-40, scored 30 off its opponents’ 16 turnovers. The boys coach coach Jimmy Alapag also held a massive 82-37 advantage in bench points. Titan Ultra, already out of playoff running, drew 33 points from Joshua Munzon, while import Tirrell Brown scored 29.

Titans seek solo lead versus Thunderbelles
Oct 14, 2026

Titans seek solo lead versus Thunderbelles

CHOCO Mucho aims for a second straight victory and an early grip on the solo lead as it battles debuting ZUS Coffee, while Capital1 and Akari look to bounce back from opening-game defeats in the PVL All-Filipino Siklab Series at the Ynares Center in Antipolo on Thursday. The Flying Titans launch their bid at 6 p.m. on the heels of a stirring comeback against the Capital1 Solar Spikers, rallying from two sets down to pull off a stunning victory before a full house at the SM Seaside Cebu Arena in last Saturday’s season-opening matches. The triumph underscored Choco Mucho’s resilience and ability to turn adversity into opportunity, but the Flying Titans face a different challenge against a ZUS Coffee side eager to make an immediate impact in its league debut. Led by Eya Laure, Choco Mucho will also lean on Sisi Rondina, Maddie Madayag, Kat Tolentino, Caitlin Viray, Lorene Toring, Des Cheng and Isa Molde as it seeks to sustain its winning momentum against a ZUS Coffee lineup featuring Cess Robles, Kate Santiago, Chinnie Arroyo, Jolina dela Cruz, Fiola Ceballos, Jovelyn Gonzaga, Riza Nogales and Chai Troncoso. ZUS Coffee will also parade middle blocker Angela Jackson, a 20-year-old UPIS alumna and the youngest draftee in the PVL, who hopes to make an early impression with her grit and raw potential. While both teams have the firepower to make their mark, execution and defensive discipline could prove decisive. Choco Mucho displayed both in its comeback against Capital1, overcoming an early deficit to seize control and complete the turnaround. “Whatever I can do to help the team [win], I will do it so that Choco Mucho can start off well again,” said head coach Dante Alinsunurin. “They were challenged [by Capital1]. I’m very thankful for how they responded, and I hope this isn’t just for today. I hope we can do a lot more in our next game,” he added. Capital1, meanwhile, gets an immediate chance to redeem itself when it faces Akari at 1 p.m. in a matchup that carries added importance for two teams coming off opening-game losses. The Solar Spikers appeared poised to live up to their pretournament billing after taking the first two sets against Choco Mucho, with the vaunted trio of Bella Belen, Erika Santos and Vanie Gandler delivering as expected. But Alinsunurin made the necessary adjustments, and his wards responded to turn the match around in dramatic fashion. Capital1 will need to rediscover its early form and sustain its intensity across the match against an Akari side likewise eager to get back on track after a disappointing debut. The Chargers struggled to find answers to the dominant showing of the Creamline Cool Smashers in their opening assignment. Only Ivy Lacsina reached double figures with 12 points, as Fifi Sharma, Faith Nisperos, Grethcel Soltones, Jyne Soreno, Chenie Tagaod, Mary Rhose Dapol, Nicole Ancheta and Eli Soyud struggled to make an impact on both ends of the floor. The opening series is a single-round-robin tournament, with the top four teams advancing to the crossover series. The top two finishers will enjoy twice-to-beat advantages, making every match crucial in the race to the Final Four. Meanwhile, action in the Spikers’ Turf resumes with debuting 3B Event Masters taking on Clear Skin at 3:30 p.m. TMT

Heading inks fresh 3-year deal with TNT
Oct 14, 2026

Heading inks fresh 3-year deal with TNT

SWEET-SHOOTING Filipino-Australian guard Jordan Heading is staying with TNT after signing a fresh three-year deal. The Tropang 5G announced the left-handed Heading’s re-signing Tuesday night on the team’s social media account. The 6-2 southpaw guard’s new deal allows the Tropang 5G to keep their core as announced by TNT team manager Jojo Lastimosa. “The extension keeps Heading in the fold as TNT builds on its core and looks to sustain its success in the PBA,” the team said in its statement. Heading scored 11 points, along with three rebounds, four assists and two steals as TNT zoomed to its seventh win in 11 starts following its lopsided 142-87 rough housing of Macao on Tuesday. Heading landed at TNT after being shipped by Converge in exchange for Mikey Williams in June 2025, just three months after the Tropang 5G ruled the Season 49 Commissioner’s Cup finals. Heading has helped TNT reach the finals the last three conferences, but in all three occasions, the Tropang 5G fell short of winning a championship. RICHARD DY

Eala eyes fresh start at Ningbo Open
Oct 14, 2026

Eala eyes fresh start at Ningbo Open

LOOKING to get back on track after a string of upset losses, Filipino tennis ace Alexandra “Alex” Eala will compete at the WTA 500 Ningbo Open in China. Running right after the 1000 Wuhan Open, Ningbo will unfold from Oct. 19 to 25. World No. 19 Eala suffered her worst loss of the season in Wuhan, where she got booted out with a 6-4, 3-6, 3-6 loss to Chinese qualifier and No. 217 Shi Han last Monday. It was Eala’s third straight loss to a player ranked significantly lower than her. The losing spell started at the Singapore Open second round where she fell to world No. 180 Tatiana Prozorova, 6-4, 5-7, 3-6, on Sept. 24. A week later at the 20th Asian Games in Nagoya, Eala bowed to world No. 85 Wang Xiyu, 6-3, 3-6, 2-6, to settle for a bronze medal on Oct. 1. Then came the latest shock defeat to Shi on Oct. 12 in Wuhan, where Eala once again took the first set only to crumble afterward. The 21-year-old likewise suffered a first-round exit in doubles with Turkish player Zeynep Sönmez, falling to the Ukrainian tandem of Dayana Yastremska and Anhelina Kalinina on Oct. 13. Eala looks to put that all behind her in Ningbo, hoping for a fresh start and to find the winning form she displayed during her conquest of the 500 D.C. Open last August. Only the top four seeds receive a first-round bye in the 28-player field Ningbo Open. As it stands, Eala is the 11th highest rated among direct entrants. World No. 1 defending champion Elena Rybakina will be the top seed followed by No. 4 Jessica Pegula, No. 6 Elina Svitolina and No. 9 Iga Swiatek. Eala won’t have a first-round bye but is expected to face another lower-ranked player to start her campaign. The lefty Eala is only listed in the singles entry of the tournament.

Dwyane Wade in awe of Filipinos’ passion   
Oct 14, 2026

Dwyane Wade in awe of Filipinos’ passion   

IT’s one thing to hear about it and another to feel it firsthand. NBA Hall-of-Famer Dwyane Wade is in awe after finally experiencing Filipinos’ passion for basketball during his “TADHANA: Make Your Own Way Manila Tour.” “Just coming here, just looking into people’s eyes, like it’s real (their love for basketball), you know, I heard it and then you have to feel it,” said Wade in a media availability on Tuesday. A 13-time All-Star and a three-time champion with the Miami Heat, Wade said he felt the Filipinos’ passion for basketball literally everywhere, including the bathroom at the airport. “I think that’s the [excitement] and the nervousness when all of the feelings and emotions [are] what I feel, because everything that everyone said about the Philippines, and they’ve said about the sport and they’ve said about myself,” said Wade. “I see it in everyone’s eyes. I feel it in the hugs. I feel it when I go into the bathrooms. I went to the bathroom at the airport and everybody stopped. It was different. “But it was just really cool just to know, like, you know, what everyone has told me about this community and this culture. Like they say basketball, this is the first love.” Wade also held fan events on Tuesday at the BGC Amphitheater in Taguig, where he received a customized shoe and a charcoal painting from a fan who traveled hours just to meet him. The NBA legend worked out with the 2026 Palarong Pambansa secondary basketball champion Calabarzon, too. The region is represented by St. John’s Wort Integrated School with players Dairick Duterte, Ali Matthew Mamauag and Rainheart Panaligan having the chance to train with Wade. The 6-foot-4 Wade is expected to grace the UAAP Season 89 men’s basketball games on Wednesday.

LeBron James knows blueprint for 76ers   
Oct 14, 2026

LeBron James knows blueprint for 76ers   

BIG Threes have long been part of the NBA. Bill Russell, Bob Cousy and Tom Heinsohn showed in Boston that having a superstar trio on the same team can work wonders. So, too, did Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy with the Los Angeles Lakers. Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish in their Celtics era. Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman in Chicago. Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili in San Antonio. Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant in Golden State. There have been plenty of others. And in Miami, there was Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and LeBron James. They spent four years together with the Heat, went to four NBA Finals, won two championships and were the biggest thing in basketball. Many thought it would be easy. It wasn’t. Miami started 9-8 in the trio’s first season together, and the road was rocky for much longer than anyone imagined. “It’s a wild ride,” Bosh said. James, as he now gets set to be part of another Big Three — a Big Four, really, alongside the likes of fellow superstars Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Jaylen Brown on the now star-studded Philadelphia 76ers — remembers those early Miami days well. Perhaps that’s why he sounded the alarm about what the next few months could be like for these 76ers. “Everyone wants instant oatmeal,” James said. “You just put the oatmeal in the bowl, you put some water and then throw it in the microwave. In a minute and a half, you’ve got something to eat, you’re ready to go. If you want to do something special, it takes time. ... In order for us to be great, we have to do things that are just not comfortable.” Translation: Get ready, 76ers. Such is Big Three or Big Four life. “You really have to stay solid within the team,” said Bosh, who might have sacrificed more stats than anyone during that four-year run in Miami. “At the end of the day, the main stat was the ‘W’ and putting one in the ‘W’ column. You can average a bunch of points and be out of the league. You can average a bunch of points and not be competing for a championship. They’re going to have to remember the priority. “And when tough times come — not if, but when — handle it and talk about it, communicate and remember why you’re there.” There are statistical sacrifices that will have to be made if the 76ers are going to get to where they want to go this season and win the title that has eluded Philly since 1983. Even with Embiid missing more than half of the 2025–2026 season, he topped the 1,000-point mark — as did James (with the Los Angeles Lakers), Brown (with Boston), Maxey and Philly’s star-in-waiting in VJ Edgecombe. There hasn’t been a championship team with five 1,000-point scorers on the roster since the 1978–1979 Seattle SuperSonics.  AP

Swiatek reaches Wuhan Open last 16
Oct 14, 2026

Swiatek reaches Wuhan Open last 16

WUHAN, China — Iga Swiatek advanced to the round of 16 at the Wuhan Open with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Magdalena Frech on Wednesday. The six-time major winner started slowly against her Polish compatriot, dropping an early service game and falling behind 2-0 before winning six straight games to take the first set. She continued momentum by winning four straight games to start the second set before Frech made it 4-1. Swiatek is seeded No. 7 in the WTA’s 1,000-level event. She reached the quarterfinals of the recent China Open in Beijing. Swiatek next faces either Ashlyn Krueger or Lanlana Tararudee. She’s in the same quarter as top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka, who faced Ann Li later Wednesday in a match to reach the final 16. In other second-round matches, No. 5 Elina Svitolina had a 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 win over Liudmila Samsonova and No. 170-ranked Sonay Kartal upset No. 9-seed Belinda Bencic, 6-0, 7-5. In Shanghai, Alexander Zverev beat Alexander Bublik, 7-6 (6), 4-6, 7-6 (1), to reach the Shanghai Masters quarterfinals in his first match since securing the year-end No. 1 ranking. Zverev saved three set points in the first-set tiebreaker and beat Bublik for only the second time in five career meetings. “My ankle was acting up, unfortunately,” Zverev said. “It was kind of understandable because I have been playing a lot of tennis, which is kind of a good sign because I have been playing well. I am starting to feel my body more and more, but I am happy to get through.” Bublik led 20-15 in aces but also had eight double faults to Zverev’s one. On Monday after third-ranked Carlos Alcaraz lost, Zverev became assured of finishing the year at the top of the rankings. Zverev is currently No. 2, but he will overtake top-ranked Jannik Sinner next month after the Italian ended his season due to right knee inflammation. Zverev won the French Open and US Open this year for his first two Grand Slam titles. AP

Dodgers to stick with out-of-form Ohtani
Oct 14, 2026

Dodgers to stick with out-of-form Ohtani

LOS ANGELES, California — Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said on Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila) he will not drop Shohei Ohtani for a crucial playoff clash with the Milwaukee Brewers after the Japanese superstar insisted he feels “good enough” to contribute. Four-time Most Valuable Player Ohtani has been in dire form after returning from multiple injuries this postseason, hitting just 3-for-20 in the playoffs, with no home run since August. The Dodgers trail their best-of-seven National League Championship Series 2-0, and reports circulated following Monday’s loss that Roberts and his staff were considering the drastic measure of benching his talisman. “I did speak to Sho, had a great conversation. He’s adamant he feels good enough to be in there,” Roberts told a press conference. “He’s close to finding something with his swing. I feel great about it.” The Dodgers, chasing a rare World Series three-peat, have three home games beginning Wednesday to get the series back on track. But the Brewers, who led Major League Baseball with 103 regular-season wins, need just two wins to reach their second-ever World Series, 44 years after their 1982 appearance. Ohtani, who has struggled with knee and biceps injuries, has not hit a home run since Aug. 18. He has just one RBI in his last 110 plate appearances. During the playoffs, Ohtani has seven strikeouts and no extra-base hits. But Ohtani said on Tuesday that his “symptoms have subdued a lot,” and that he is focused now on his swing mechanics. “Over the course of this long season, there’s only really a short period of time when my mechanics are completely in sync,” he said. “So it’s just really kind of just going back and forth, finding the right parts of the swing and managing just the different parts of the swing. So it’s a constant, ongoing process that’s headed in the right direction.” Ohtani has already dropped to fifth in the batting order this postseason — the lowest he’s hit since 2020 — and Roberts suggested he could bat as low as six on Wednesday. But the manager denied he had ever considered unilaterally “benching” Ohtani for poor form. “It was more of, ‘hey, man, if you’re not feeling good enough that you feel like you can perform up to your ability, then we’ll pivot, give you a couple [of] days,’” said Roberts. “And talking to him, he feels like he’s close to finding something and was close yesterday in finding something mechanically. With that, I’m excited. I’m all about it. So he’ll be in there.” AFP

Iga Swiatek wins all-Polish battle to launch Wuhan Open campaign
Oct 14, 2026

Iga Swiatek wins all-Polish battle to launch Wuhan Open campaign

WUHAN–Six-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek launched her Wuhan Open campaign by triumphing 6-2, 6-1 in an all-Polish battle against lucky loser Magdalena Frech on Wednesday. Swiatek posted her 40th victory of the season in one hour and 42 minutes and remains on course for a potential quarter-final showdown with top seed and three-time Wuhan

Alex Eala tries to get back on track in final stretch of season
Oct 14, 2026

Alex Eala tries to get back on track in final stretch of season

MANILA, Philippines–Alex Eala tries to snap out of her slump at the Ningbo Open in China next week. Eala is 0-3 in her last three matches on Tour, including upset losses to unheralded opponents in unseeded Russian Tatiana Prozorova at the Singapore Open round of 16 late last month and Chinese qualifier Shi Han at

Sabalenka's slump continues with Wuhan Open exit to Li
Oct 14, 2026

Sabalenka's slump continues with Wuhan Open exit to Li

Aryna Sabalenka's difficult run of form continued on Wednesday as the Belarusian top seed crashed out of the Wuhan Open, falling 3-6 6-4 7-6(5) to unseeded American Ann Li in the round of 32.

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