Filoil Flying V Hanes Premier Cup tinkers groupings, sets opening

The Filoil Flying V Hanes Premier Cup tinkered with its groupings just before the start of competition proper on April 23.

The organizers moved San Beda and Letran from Group A to Group B, with Perpetual and JRU taking their place in what had originally been noted as the "group of death:."

The NCAA Season 89 finals protagonists replace the Altas and EAC in Group B, with the Generals moving over to Group C to replace the Bombers.

Revised Filoil Groupings below:

Group A: La Salle, UE, Perpetual, JRU, UV, SWU, and San Carlos
Group B: San Beda, Letran, FEU, Lyceum, Mapua, St. Clare, and RP Youth U-18
Group C: San Sebastian, NU, CEU, EAC, CSB, UP, and Holy Trinity College

The tournament is scheduled to tip off on April 23 with the first game of the quintipleheader being the juniors matchup of the San Sebastian Staglets and the UST Tiger Cubs at 10:45 am. Following that is the first women's matchup of the day, between CEU and UST, at 12:30pm.

Gamedays are scheduled on Mondays, Wednesday, Fridays and Saturdays.

The seniors won't start their action until April 26, with San Sebastian facing UP at 9:30am. The first televised matches of the tournament will be later in the afternoon, with the NCAA finals rematch between the Knights and the Red Lions at 2pm, followed by the skirmish of the Green Archers and the Red Warriors at 4pm.

Any televised games (which right now consists of the opening double-header and the seniors' semifinals and finals, which will be on June 6 & 7) will be shown on Sports+Action.

La Salle team manager Raffy Villavicencio views the Premier Cup as an opportunity to discover the strengths and weaknesses of the reigning UAAP champions. They are expected to field a lineup that is to include newcomers like Abu Tratter, Julian Sargent, Prince Rivero and Renzo Subido.

Letran head coach Caloy Garcia sees the tournament as a chance for exposure and to develop team chemistry, as they move forward without last season's MVP (and 3rd overall draft pick) Raymond Almazan. Mark Cruz is expected to lead the charge for the Knights, along with last year's newcomer Rey Nambatac.

UV Lancers head coach Donbel Belano also sees this tournament as an exposure, as the MBA legend believes that facing the best collegiate teams in Manila will help them as they defend their CESAFI title. He adds, “You will learn a lot more from playing the top teams than teams na kayang kaya mo.”

Tournament Format Finalized for 8th Filoil Premier Cup

For the 8th Filoil Flying V Hanes Premier Cup, the tournament will be unveiling a three division set-up to accommodate the 21 teams participating in the seniors division.

Each division will have a single round-robin, with the top two teams of each group and the two best third-place teams advancing to the knockout phase.

The eight teams then will be seeded according to win-loss record and quotient, with the normal bracket matchups to proceed until a champion will be crowned.

Here are the groupings:

Group A: Letran, La Salle, San Beda, SWU, UE, San Carlos, and UV
Group B: EAC, FEU, Lyceum, Mapua, RP Youth U-18, St. Clare, and Perpetual
Group C: CEU, CSB, Holy Trinity College, JRU, NU, San Sebastian, and UP

In the women's division, the ten teams are divided into two groups, with the top two teams advancing to the crossover semifinals, with the group winner facing the other group's runner-up.



Group A: Adamson, CEU, La Salle, RTU, UST
Group B: CSB, FEU, NU, UE, UP


The same format applies to the juniors' division, with the only difference being that it has twelve teams instead of ten for the women's.


Group A: FEU, JRU, LSGH, NU, San Sebastian, UST
Group B: Ateneo, Letran, DLS-Z, Mapua, San Beda, UE

The 2014 Filoil Flying V Hanes Premier Cup tips off on April 23 at the Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan and is sponsored by Flying V, Filoil, Total, Hanes, San Miguel Corporation, Starmobile, Timex, Silverworks, Gatorade, LGR and in part by Meralco, BDO, Reyes Barbecue, Douwe Egberts, Gerry’s Grill, Brothers Burger, Molten, Bayo, Oxycan, BPI, PBCom, RFM, San Marino, Red Logo, and Bacchus Energy Drink.

*Only NCAA team not participating in the Filoil is Arellano. Ateneo, Adamson and UST are the UAAP schools not participating. This is in context to the seniors' campaign.

Five newcomers highlight 8th Filoil Flying V Hanes Premier Cup

43 teams will be participating in the eighth season of THE preseason tournament for the basketball student-athletes, the Filoil Flying V Hanes Premier Cup.

Slated to tip off on April 23 at the San Juan Arena, the Filoil tournament will have six non-NCAA & UAAP schools participating in the 21-team seniors division, four of which are from the provinces.

Southwestern University makes their return after their debut last year, this time bringing the CESAFI champions University of the Visayas and the University of San Carlos for their first Filoil preseason foray. Joining the three Cebuano institutions are Mindanao powerhouse Holy Trinity College from General Santos City.

Completing the cast of newcomers are St. Clare College and NAASCU champions Centro Escolar University.

The addition of the provincial-based schools is, according to tournament director Joey Guillermo, a part of a plan to expand the tournament nationally. Last year, they invited the Cobras, who had been the second-ever Visayan team to crash the Final Four of the PCCL, to participate. This year, not only are they adding participants, but also they are bringing the games to the provinces.

On May 22-25, reigning Filoil champions University of the East and UAAP champions La Salle will play USC, UV and SWU in Cebu. DLSU team manager Raffy Villavicencio quipped that if the Cebuano schools are excited to play in Manila, the other way around is also true.

UV head coach and MBA legend Donbel Belano also expressed excitement in being able to participate in the tournament, acknowledging the idea of being able to gain exposure and gauge their competitiveness both as players and as a team against the other schools will help the team in the long run. He will count on CESAFI Finals MVP John Abad and 2012 CESAFI rookie MVP Wowie Escosio to carry the load for the Lancers.

Agreeing with the sentiment is Holy Trinity head coach Pol Torrijos, whose Wildcats were the PCCL Mindanao champions for the last two editions.

In addition to the 21 teams in the seniors' competition, ten women's and twelve juniors teams will participate in the Premier Cup, which is sponsored by Flying V, Filoil, Total, Hanes, San Miguel Corporation, Starmobile, Timex, Silverworks, Gatorade, LGR and in part by Meralco, BDO, Reyes Barbecue, Douwe Egberts, Gerry’s Grill, Brothers Burger, Molten, Bayo, Oxycan, BPI, PBCom, RFM, San Marino, Red Logo, and Bacchus Energy Drink.

Fox Sports Asia with coverage of The Masters

Hello, Friends. It's a Tradition unlike any other. Even without Tiger.

And this year, Fox Sports Asia will have coverage of the first major of the 2014 golf season. Fox Sports Asia will have over 28 hours of programming devoted to the event.

Kicking off their coverage was showcasing the Legends of the Masters: from yesteryear's greats in Arnie, Jack and Gary on Tuesday, then following that with Nick, Tiger and Phil last night.

They have already shown highlights from last year's edition earlier today, which had been won in dramatic fashion by Adam Scott, as well as the appetizer of the tournament, the Par 3, won by Ryan Moore.

Complementing the coverage will be 2005 US Open champion Michael Campbell, Singapore golf pro Tim Low, and veteran PGA Tour commentator and presenter Jay Sajamark.

Not only with the shots and putts be show on Fox Sports and on high-definition via Fox Sports Plus HD, but also highlights from the day will be shown on 24/7 sports news channel Fox Sports News.

Details on the Fox Sports Asia coverage can be seen below:

DATE	TIME	TITLE	CHANNELS
Tue, 8th Apr	10pm	Legends of the Masters: Palmer, Nicklaus & Player	FOX Sports FOX Sports Plus HD
Wed, 9th Apr	10pm	Legends of the Masters: Faldo, Woods & Mickelson
Thur, 10th Apr	3am	Par 3 Contest
	7:30pm	Best of 2013 Masters
Fri, 11th Apr	3am	The Masters: Day 1
	7:30am	The Masters: Day 1 Review
Sat, 12th Apr	3am	The Masters: Day 2
	7:30am	The Masters: Day 2 Review
Sun, 13th Apr	3am	The Masters: Day 3
	7am	The Masters: Day 3 Review
Mon, 14th Apr	2am	The Masters: Day 4
	7am	The Masters: Day 4 Review

Note: Complementing Fox Sports coverage of The Masters is that ABS-CBN Sports will also cover the event on Sports+Action, from Friday to Monday, at the same time as Fox Sports & Fox Sports HD.

Asian Men’s Club Volleyball Championships to commence today on TV5

Today marks the opening of the Asian Men's Club Volleyball Championships, presented by PLDT Home Fibr.

To be held at the MOA Arena and the Cuneta Astrodome, the AMCC will commence with the opening ceremonies at 12 noon, followed by the opening match featuring first-time participants and hosts, the Philippines (represented by PLDT Home TVolution) against Mongolia at 2:00 PM.

Originally 18 teams, the field was whittled down to 16 after withdrawals from Kuwait and India. The champions will represent the confederation in the World Championships in Brazil.

TV5 will broadcast the AMCC matches, including all the Filipino matches. TVolution will also stream the matches.

For more details: http://asianmensvball.pldthome.com/

Fox Sports Philippines to show the NASCAR Duck Commander 500

NASCAR heads to Texas this weekend, as the Sprint Cup Series continues with the Duck Commander 500 at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. Duck Commander is the company featured in the popular show Duck Dynasty.

Kyle Busch looks to repeat as the champion in Texas, and thus become the first two-time winner this season, having won at Fontana a couple of weeks ago. His brother, Kurt, would like to build on the momentum of winning last week's STP 500 in Martinsville.

The race will be aired on Fox Sports Philippines this Monday at 2:30 am, with replays scheduled at 4:00 pm later that day and 10:00 pm the next day. Highlights from the race will also be shown at different times.

The NASCAR on Fox Sports telecast is presented by Seaoil, now powered with STP additives that remove and control carbon deposits. Take advantage of the racer’s edge with Seaoil Fuels, and break away from the rest.

Fox Sports is seen on channel 31 on Sky and Destiny Cable, channel 48 on Cignal Digital TV and later tin over 200 local cable operators nationwide. Full telecast schedule is available via tv.foxsportsasia.com.