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MANILA, Philippines — Hidilyn Diaz formalized her entry in the Tokyo Olympics after participating in the Asian Weightlifting Championship on Sunday in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Diaz punched a ticket to Tokyo after competing in her sixth Olympic qualifying tournament to meeting the requirements. With Diaz in tow, the Philippines nowhas seven bets in this year’s Summer Games. The 30-year-old Diaz joined pole vaulter EJ Obiena, gymnast Carlos Yulo and boxers Eumir Felix Marcial, Nesthy Petecio, Carlo Paalam and Irish Magno. Diaz will be making her fourth trip to the Olympics after also competing in Beijing in 2008, London in 2012 and Rio de Janeiro in 2016. She won the silv…

Keep on reading: Hidilyn Diaz officially qualifies for Tokyo Olympics

ORMOC CITY — Personnel of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and the local government of Allen, Northern Samar on Sunday distributed food and water to at least a hundred people who were stranded at the port due to Typhoon Bising. Capt. Angelo Viliran, commander of PCG-Eastern Visayas, said among the food they distributed were arroz caldo (rice porridge), boiled bananas, and water. At least 656 passengers were stranded all over Eastern Visayas. Sea travel has been suspended in Northern Samar and other ports in the Visayas due to Typhoon Bising.   /MUF…

Keep on reading: PCG gives food, water to people stranded by ‘Bising’ in Northern Samar

  MANILA, Philippines — House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco has appealed to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to expedite its procedures, especially those concerning the applications of local pharmaceutical firms for product registration and emergency use authorization (EUA) permits amid the pandemic. In a statement Sunday, Velasco said the local pharmaceutical industry can boost the country’s capability in its battle against the pandemic, saying such firms “play a vital role in helping provide much-needed medicines for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19.” “While we understand the need for a thorough study of drugs and medicines, we need to balance it out by makin…

Keep on reading: FDA urged to expedite procedures for EUA permits of local pharma firms

Eric Cray missed the Olympic qualifying time by nearly three seconds after placing third in the men’s 400m hurdles Michael Johnson Invitational at Clyde Hart Stadium in Waco, Texas. Chasing to duplicate his 2016 Rio De Janeiro Olympic stint, Cray bagged the bronze medal in 51.62 seconds, way behind the Olympic standard of 48.90 seconds in his pet event. Moitalel Mpoke of Texas A&M clinched the gold medal in 50.53 seconds while Pablo Ibanez of El Salvador reached the line a split second ahead of Cray in 51.32 for the silver medal. There’s no need to panic though as Cray, the four-time Southeast Asian Games 400m champion, still has several chances of nailing a berth in the…

Keep on reading: Cray bags bronze but still short of Olympic standard in Texas tilt

Lydia Ko ended her three-year LPGA title drought in impressive style Saturday, firing a final-round 65 to win the Lotte Championship by seven strokes. Former world number one Ko, a two-time major champion, didn’t put a foot wrong as she notched her 16th LPGA title but her first since the 2018 Mediheal Championship. Her 28-under par total of 260 at Kapolei Golf Club in Oahu, Hawaii, put her seven in front of South Korean’s Park In-bee and Kim Sei-young, Ireland’s Leona Maguire and American Nelly Korda. https://twitter.com/LPGA/status/1383615008068620294?s=20 Ko took a one-shot lead over Korda into the final round, but as the American struggled on the greens Ko marched rele…

Keep on reading: Yuka Saso finishes in joint 6th, Lydia Ko wins LPGA Lotte Championship

South Africa’s health regulator on Saturday recommended that the government lift the pause on administering drugmaker Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccines, given that certain conditions are met. “These conditions include, but are not limited to, strengthened screening and monitoring of participants who are at high risk of a blood clotting disorder,” the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) said. “In addition, measures are to be implemented to ensure the safe management of any participants who develop vaccine-induced thrombosis and thrombocytopenia (VITT),” the statement added. SAHPRA said on Wednesday that it had recently reviewed data from Johnso…

Keep on reading: South Africa regulator recommends lifting J&J vaccine pause after some conditions

MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Vicente Sotto III said Saturday he will raise issues on pork importation to President Rodrigo Duterte when he gets the chance to meet with the Chief Executive. In an interview with DWIZ, Sotto said Duterte previously expressed willingness to have a meeting with him and House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco. Asked if he will take this opportunity to talk to the President about the pork importation issues being discussed in Senate hearings, Sotto said, “Oo. Magpapasintabi ako sa kanya. Babanggitin ko kung okay sa kanya na i-take up namin.” (Yes. I will ask him if we can take up the issue.) Sotto said he had also advised Senator Christophe…

Keep on reading: Sotto says to raise pork importation issues to Duterte when given the chance

MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Vicente Sotto III admitted on Saturday that he, too, is taking ivermectin to protect himself from getting COVID-19. “Ako rin eh. Ako umiinom ako eh (I am also taking it). Prevention. Once every two weeks,” he told DWIZ. Sotto said he knows other COVID-19 positive individuals whose conditions have improved after taking ivermectin, which he also called “preventive” drug against the disease. “Meron akong mga kakilala, tinamaan ng COVID, tumira ng tatlong araw ng ivermectin. Pagdating ng pang-apat, panglimang araw tanggal na lahat ng symptoms, naghintay na lang ng 14 days bago nagpacheck ulit, pagpacheck negative na. Ang dami kong kilalan…

Keep on reading: Sotto admits he’s taking ivermectin for protection vs COVID-19

MANILA, Philippines—MP Promotions president Sean Gibbons is adamant to put Jerwin Ancajas into the larger consciousness of the Philippines’ boxing-crazed populace. Despite being a champion for more nearly five years, Ancajas hasn’t had a title defense in the Philippines and Gibbons plans to change that and book the IBF World super flyweight champion in a fight card in his native land. “Moving forward eventually, Jerwin has never defended the belt in the Philippines so we’d love to get a title defense in the Philippines before we go for another big fight,” said Gibbons in a Zoom interview. “That’s the goal, do a fight in the Philippines.” Ancajas (33-1-2) became the IBF’s 115-pound…

Keep on reading: Gibbon wants future Ancajas title defense held in PH

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tC0be2yDiE0 MANILA, Philippines — A member of the OCTA Research group that tracks COVID-19 trends in the country hopes that the coronavirus reproduction number in Metro Manila may go down to 1.0 on Wednesday or Thursday. “Hopefully by Wednesday or Thursday makita natin na 1.0 and I hope na mas mababa na sya sa 1.0 by Thursday,” Dr. Butch Ong said at the Laging Handa public briefing on Saturday. (Hopefully by Wednesday or Thursday, we can see that the reproduction number would slow down to 1.0 and I hope it will even go down to below 1.0 on Thursday.) Reproduction number is the average number of persons who may be infected by a COVID-19 positi…

Keep on reading: OCTA member hopes NCR’s COVID-19 reproduction number goes down to 1.0 by Wed