Road to recovery

MANILA, Philippines – San Miguel Beer star Danny Ildefonso hasn’t played a single game the entire PBA season but because of his attachment with fans and strong credentials, was voted a starter for the North squad in the All-Star extravaganza that unfolds in Victorias City, Negros Occidental, tonight.

Unfortunately, Ildefonso won’t be able to play against the Powerade Team Pilipinas. PBA commissioner Sonny Barrios has excused Ildefonso from suiting up to be with his six-year-old daughter who is scheduled for chemotherapy treatment in Manila today.

A source said Ildefonso’s daughter was born with a growth in her stomach and the tumor is now the target of a chemotherapy series. The daughter has reportedly a twin sister. “We understand this is the third or fourth round of chemotherapy and the good news is Danny’s daughter is responding positively to the treatment,” said the source. “It’s a difficult period for Danny, his wife and their kids. Danny requested the PBA if he could be near his daughter during chemotherapy.”

Both father and daughter appear to be on the road to recovery. Ildefonso, 32, hasn’t played since the Fiesta Conference last season where he saw action in 23 of 28 games. He was down with injuries in both feet. Ildefonso has since been reactivated and is back in the San Miguel lineup. Last April 12, he was in uniform but didn’t check in for San Miguel’s game against Rain Or Shine.

Ildefonso was the PBA’s first overall pick in the 1998 draft. He was picked by Shell then traded outright to San Miguel for Noy Castillo and other considerations. Ildefonso went on to bag the Rookie of the Year award and later, took back-to-back MVP ttophies in 2000 and 2001.

No replacement will be named for Ildefonso in the All-Star Game tonight and coach Chot Reyes will decide whom to start in his place. He could pick from any of his three imports, Talk ‘N’ Text’s Tiras Wade, Purefoods’ Jahmar Thorpe or Burger King’s Shawn Daniels. Others in the North roster are Marc Pingris, Rico Villanueva, Mac-Mac Cardona, Paul Artadi, L. A. Tenorio, Jay-R Reyes, Gabby Espinas, Joseph Yeo and Gary David.

In the All-Star climax on Sunday, the South and North starters will combine forces with three imports to engage the Powerade Philippine team. Ildefonso will likely play. Aside from Ildefonso, the North starters (voted by fans) are Cardona, Villanueva, Pingris and Artadi. The South starters (also voted by fans) are Jimmy Alapag, Dorian Peña, Dondon Hontiveros, Jay Washington and Eric Menk. The imports selected by Barrios to reinforce the North-South coalition are San Miguel’s Gabe Freeman, Coca-Cola’s Anthony Johnson and Rain Or Shine’s Jai Lewis.

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Coach Jojo Villa sent in a text message about Barangay Ginebra’s David Noel and Rain Or Shine’s Jai Lewis the other night.

“Lewis and Noel met in the second round of the 2006 NCAA Tournament with George Mason University beating North Carolina, 65-60, en route to the Final Four,” he noted. “I follow the NCAA more than the NBA. That’s why I get to know these players.”

One of Lewis’ teammates at George Mason was Gabe Norwood with whom he has been reunited in the PBA. If not for Norwood’s invitation, Lewis said he’d probably be back in the US, watching basketball instead of playing the game.

The year before George Mason beat the Tar Heels, North Carolina won the NCAA title with Noel averaging 3.9 points and 16.9 minutes. Noel concentrated more on playing defense and rebounding than scoring that season, what with prolific teammates like Rashad McCants, Sean May and Marvin Williams.

When McCants and company graduated, Noel was left holding the ball. “It’s lonely because most of my friends are gone,” said Noel. “It’s a lot to deal with but we’ll step up and face it. We can’t run from it.” Without the stars, Noel rose to the occasion, averaging 12.9 points and a team-high 33.7 minutes as a senior.

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As expected, host Thailand lorded it over the Kings Cup amateur boxing tournament in Bangkok recently, claiming seven of nine gold medals at stake with three finals involving Thai fighters. The only visitors who struck paydirt were lightheavyweight Kim Dong Hoe of Korea and welterweight Orhan Ozuerk of the Netherlands. Voted best fighter was Filipino bantamweight Joan Tipon’s Thai tormentor Chatchai Butdee.

The tournament was participated in by 16 teams from 15 countries, including Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Papua New Guinea, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, China and Russia.

“We knew what we were up against from the start,” said ABAP executive director Ed Picson. “We’re proud of our boys who showed utmost discipline. We arrived in Bangkok at midnight, got to bed at 3 a.m. and by 8 a.m., the boys were at the fifth floor parking lot of our hotel, sweating it out in the makeshift gym. (Joegin) Ladon wanted to fight in the semis despite his cut but didn’t protest when he decided to pull him out. It wasn’t worth risking more damage as even medical director Dr. Ort of Norway advised us to withdraw. This wasn’t the SEA Games or Asian Games or the Olympics after all. There was danger of aggravating Ladon’s injury and jeopardizing his future. (Gerson) Nietes also wanted to continue fighting (he was retired after trailing, 0-9, in the semifinals against Thailand’s Keaw Pangprayoon) but he, too, accepted his coaches’ decision.”

Picson said the country’s Cuban coaches Enrique Steyners and Dagoberto Rojas didn’t join the trip because their passports, which need to be stamped every two months at a cost of $40 a month even if they don’t expire until 2014, weren’t up to date.

“We learned a lot of valuable lessons in the King’s Cup,” said Picson. “It’s clear that we need to be more aggressive and carry the fight instead of waiting for our opponents to move in because we end up getting beaten to the punch just like (Genebert) Basadre in the finals. I think some of our fighters are intimidated by the Thais. All of our fighters lost to Thais. Mental toughness is something we’ve got to address.”

Basadre brought home a silver while Nietes and Ladon, a bronze apiece. The other fighters in the Philippine team were Tipon, Aston Francis Palicte and Charly Suarez.