Wazzup Pilipinas News and Events

Friday, January 6, 2017

The Blue Palawan Kiteboard Open 2017

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Blue Kiteboarding and Blue Palawan Beach Club invites you to come and ride the worlds most tropical kite park this year!
The 2017 Blue Palawan Kite Open, the first International Slick and Slider Kiteboarding Competition in Puerto Princesa, Palawan, is back for it’s second year as the first event of the world renowned Kite Park League Tour. Kicking things off with a qualifying event on February 6 & 7, 2017. The qualifier is open to anyone and is your chance to compete alongside the world’s best kiteboarding park riding talent at the best tropical kite park in Asia.

The top two men and two women from the qualifier will join the invited 24 riders on Tuesday February 7th for opening celebrations and will collectively compete for their chance at the title during the main event to immediately follow the open qualifier from February 8th to 16th.

In line with this, the organizers have invited members of the media to get to know more about the Kiteboarding scene in the Philippines via a press conference to be held on January 10, 2017 at a venue in Makati!

Paula Rosales, one of the top female freestyle kite boarders in Asia, will speak on behalf of Blue Palawan and the local riders from Boracay, and their recent partnership with the Department of Tourism.

Three well known international kite boarders will also be joining the presscon:

Manuela Jungo -- Swiss kiteboarder; Ranked 5th for the last 3 years in Kiteboarding World Tour (http://www.manuelajungo.com/)

James Boulding -- Professional kiteboarder & filmmaker (http://www.jamesboulding.co.uk)

Eric James Rienstra -- Professional Kiteboarder from King Beach, CA; 2014 Beeline Rail Masters Champion (http://ericrienstra.blogspot.com/)

Wazzup Pilipinas!

It is very rare for a debuting fighter to receive a title shot in his maiden fight under a particular mixed martial arts (MMA) organization’s banner, but this was the case when Japanese stalwart Kazunori Yokota made his first appearance in ONE Championship.

Yokota was on ONE Championship’s radar for a long time as he is an MMA fixture in his home-country with over 12 years of prizefighting experience under his belt.

In addition, Yokota is even considered as one of the toughest Asian featherweight competitors as he has constantly punished his opponents and grinded out 25 impressive victories in his 34-bout career.

It was a no-brainer that Yokota would have a crack at the coveted ONE Featherweight World Championship belt when he inked a lucrative multi-fight deal with Asia’s largest MMA promotion.

Riding high on an impressive 13-fight winning streak in the Japanese MMA circuit, Yokota earned a date with Russian combatant Marat Gafurov for the gold-plated strap in May 2016.

Although he was a highly-touted veteran from “The Land of the Rising Sun,” it did not quite go as planned for Yokota as he bowed down to Gafurov by way of second-round submission.

Yokota seeks to erase the painful memory of his ONE Championship debut at the expense of Australian standout Martin Nguyen.

Both men are scheduled to square off against each other in the co-headliner of ONE: QUEST FOR POWER, which takes place at the Jakarta Convention Center in Jakarta, Indonesia on 14 January.

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Ukrainian fighter Igor Subora sees his upcoming three-round encounter with Sherif “The Shark” Mohamed as an opportunity to bring back the luster of his professional mixed martial arts (MMA) career.

Both highly-decorated combatants are set to collide on the undercard of ONE: QUEST FOR POWER, which takes place at the Jakarta Convention Center in Jakarta, Indonesia on 14 January.

Subora is one of the few foreign nationals who opted to make a run for the money and compete professionally in the Philippines.

Although he acquired his Combat Sambo pedigree overseas, Subora decided to train as an MMA competitor when he migrated to the country in 2008, honing his skills in neighboring gyms around Metro Manila.

Subora remarkably conquered the local MMA scene in the Philippines, attaining four first-round knockouts and one submission victory.

In addition, Subora captured a local MMA promotion’s heavyweight championship belt by way of a 49-second knockout in 2011 and reigned for three years with ease.

His success in the Philippine MMA circuit led him to be noticed by ONE Championship, which is widely regarded as the largest MMA organization in the Asia region.

Despite his triumphant run in the local ranks, he struggled to translate it in his first two ONE Championship assignments.