Christmas contest for you

It’s that time of the year again when we reach out to our loyal STAR readers and give them a chance to win big, big prizes in our annual Christmas contest.

We’ve got tons of prizes to give away and we promise you a cartful of goodies to share with your loved ones during the holiday season.

As we get prizes from our generous sponsors, we’ll list the items up for grabs. Believe us when we say our prizes are guaranteed to knock you out. To join, just answer three questions correctly, write down your answers in a slip of paper, insert in an envelope with a clipping of an original (not a copy) STAR masthead (only from the front page) and send to "A Christmas Treat" "A Sporting Chance" Philippine Star Sports, 13th and Oca Streets, Port Area, Metro Manila. Don’t forget to write your name, address, telephone number, occupation (course and year if in school) and signature.

The questions are:

1. Who is the new Southeast Asian (SEA) Games record holder in the hammer throw (he won the gold medal with a record heave last Tuesday)?

2. How many times has the Philippines hosted the SEA Games?

3.Who is the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) new Slam Dunk champion?

You have until Dec. 20, Tuesday, to send in your entries. Winners will be announced in this column on Thursday, Dec. 22. Entries may be mailed or delivered straight to The STAR office.

We’ll pick 30 lucky readers to bring home a Christmas Treat each, courtesy of our generous sponsors.

Some of the prizes are NBA merchandise, basketballs, foodstuffs, beverages, gift products, novelty items and many, many more. Ask the previous winners about their prizes and they’ll tell you the goodies were worth competing for.

Don’t hesitate. Send in your entries now and you might be one of 30 lucky winners this Christmas.

* * *

SEA Games overall medical chairman Dr. Jose Raul Canlas said the other day his volunteer team of 80 doctors and 480 paramedicals (including physical therapists, ambulance operators, emergency response units and nurses) is not only looking out for athletes but also the health of officials.

"We’re concerned about officials who may be suffering from high blood pressure, hypertension or heart problems," said Dr. Canlas who has worked for the Philippine medical team in two Olympics, three Asian Games and the SEA Games since 1991. "In my experience with the Philippine delegation, I’ve already dealt with an official who had a heart attack. The worst injury I encountered was at the 2004 Athens Olympics where Donnie Geisler of taekwondo dislocated his ankle."

Dr. Canlas said he’s confident that his group is ready to take care of any eventuality that is medical in nature during the course of the Games.

"The weights and therapy rooms are well-used at the PCSM (Philippine Center for Sports Medicine)," said Dr. Canlas. "We’re doing random dope testing. All record breakers are also tested. Doping officers are locals who have gone through training. The testing is monitored by the Medical Commission, which is made up of all Federation members. Certain sports like football, athletics and swimming have international federation doping officers who monitor the tests."

Wrestler Marcus Valda described the national team’s recent four-month training in Mongolia to prepare for the SEA Games as a toughening grind.

"We trained six days a week," said Valda. "We got up at 7, ran and did conditioning exercises for an hour and a half, wrestled for an hour and a half, took a break and went back to the gym for more exercises and wrestling from 5 p.m. to nighttime. We learned a lot from the Mongolian coaches and athletes. They really helped us out."

Valda said there were unconfirmed reports that Vietnamese wrestlers trained in Korea and China.

"When we were in Mongolia, we noticed three or four judo players from Laos training but we were the only foreign wrestlers to train there," said Valda.

Valda said the Philippines’ foreign coach Lodoi Enkhbayar of Mongolia, now in his fifth year here, works smoothly with head coach Enrique Tuya and assistant Jerry Faincason.

Competing before a homecrowd was a big morale lift, said Valda who saw action in freestyle wrestling yesterday.

"This was only my second international competition at home and I was excited to wrestle in front of my family and friends who’d never seen me on the mat," said Valda. "My first competition here was the 2002 Southeast Asian championships where I won two golds. Because of the homecrowd, I was more relaxed."

Valda said the First Gentleman Foundation financed the team’s training trip to Mongolia.

"We know the organizing committee did its best to provide us with adequate supplies even if they were delivered late," said Valda. "A few days before the opening of the SEA Games, I got my Yonex dri-fit shirts, some collared shirts, a track suit, a bag, singlets for competition, a pair of Adidas track shoes and two pairs of Asics wrestling shoes. I could’ve used another pair of track shoes but I can’t complain. We’re happy with what we’ve received. Our goal was to give back to our country by performing to the best of our ability and getting the gold."

The duration of a wrestling match is five minutes. If a competitor takes a "fall" or if the point difference between the competitors exceeds 10 (called a "technical fall"), the fight is over. If the score is even or if neither competitor has scored three points when time is up, the wrestlers are given an additional three minutes to settle the outcome.