Losing big time

One of the most prominent sports figures in Cebu passed away over the weekend.

While he made waves in the sport of chess being a National Master and an active supporter of the sport for many years, Matias ‘Bombi’ Aznar III was well-loved in the golf community.

Tito Bombi loved golf so much and was one of the few people I know that had made more than one hole-in-one, I think he had about five or six.

He will be fondly remembered.

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The World Cup is getting to be more interesting with several upsets rocking the tournament and making the race to the next round more interesting.

England, France and Italy are among the prominent teams that are struggling to find form and are in the verge of an early exit.

The other night’s 7-0 trashing of North Korea by Portugal was, so far, the most lopsided match in the tournament played in South Africa, but that wasn’t the worst beating a team got in the World Cup.

In the 1954 edition of the tournament, South Korea lost to Hungary, 0-9, and also to Turkey, 0-7.

In 1982, El Salvador was dumped, 10-1, by Hungary, a side that wasn’t even good enough to advance to the second round that year.

In 1974, Zaire lost to Yugoslavia, 0-9, which was almost matched by the Saudi Arabian team in 2002, which bowed to Germany, 0-8.

The worst spanking a team got in a World Cup qualifier was when Australia showed no mercy to a very raw American Samoa team winning the match 31-0.

When I checked Google for the worst World Cup results the other night, there were many others who also did the same based on the recent postings. Thanks to the Internet, it’s not that hard to look for information that would interest us.

The North Korean side can still hold their heads up high as there were many others in the past that got a worse beating.

If defending champion Italy will bow out after the group stages, then that is even more embarrassing than losing by seven goals.

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After last Friday’s 4th Y101 Corporate Cup, another team event is set tomorrow as the annual Business in Golf tees off also at the Cebu Country Club.

This is also a four-man team event, but this time, the scores of all team members will count for the team total.

This is part of the Cebu Business Month celebration.

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MILESTONES: Belated birthday greetings to one of my favorite high school teachers, Mr. Martin U. Castillo, who made Integrated Science during our freshman year and Physics in our senior year very interesting. He turned a year older last Monday.

Belated greetings also go to my Tao sister Raquel ‘Baki’ Capio, who turned a year older yesterday along with the famous Jao twins of volleyball – Marichu San Juan and Marilou Ramirez.

Today’s greetings go to Dr. Mary Louise Janet Tadlip-Alforque.

More power to all of you!