Set to Conquer the World Stage: The Victoria Sports Pro Cycling Team

I've never seen so much passion in the sport of cycling than during the thanksgiving event of the Victoria Sports Pro Cycling team (VSPC). I've seen them don podiums in different events, and didn't know how close they were. We found out today that their office is at Quezon City. 

These guys have been working so hard doing races locally and recent ones in Europe, trying their best in international racing circuits, making us all proud, all hoping to bring pride and honor for the Philippines.

For those who don't know, one of their members Ean Cajucom took home the championship for the Ramos Cycling Race (based in PH). At the General Classification and 2nd Stage of Oman's Tour of Salalah, their team member Nicolas Sessler copped these posts. Then Jeroen Meijer took 3rd spot on Stage 4 of the multi day road cycling race in that country. The VSPC team also took home 5th Place overall at the Trans-Himalayan Cycling Race in China versus some of the world's best too. In the land of the rising sun's OITA Urban Classic, Meijers took first place at the Road Race, while Cajucom took second spot. They also did good at the Tour de Kyushu races, much of which they consistently placed as part of the team.  

Here's our interview with them a few days ago:

You could feel their eagerness to improve their skills even at this stage. When they are doing rigorous training in Europe, they said they loved it because they get to concentrate on cycling and the sport. No question about their love for the Philippines, but they said they needed to look out for themselves here because of the traffic, buses, trucks, other motorists that become their number one concern when training. The only drawback is being away from family, friends, and loved ones. The senior members really felt like family because the little things like problems at home do become a normal occurrence in managing their members.

Former QC Mayor and House Speaker Sonny Belmonte was also there to support the cause! It was a pleasure meeting you sir!

The training they receive in EU also gets them to adapt the time tested system of training they do in that side of the world which more or less, doesn't exist in the region we belong. They will also be scouting in different weekly and monthly cycling events to seek Filipino talent that they could further develop like the champions they have in the roster. These 15 members are making the country proud, and in 2025 they promise to do even more to make sure that we as a nation achieve greater heights just like recent champions, Olympians, who have inspired the youth, and even more people to take up the sport. 

They have been fixing their calendar to participate in local tourneys plus a few more in United Arab Emirates (Dubai and elsewhere). They also have some in Spain, and other countries in Europe. This is just the start of hopefully more wins in the world stage, and we hope that more brands, corporations would continue to support their cause and bring the Philippines more wins in the professional cycling sport. 

Congratulations to the whole Victoria Sports Pro Cycling (VSPC) team which includes Carlos Francisco Ochoa, Marcelo Felipe, Ean Cajucom, Alexis Pagara, Nicolas Sessier, Ismael Grospe Jr., Daniel Ven Carino, Edson Carbadora, Miguel Andrei Obmerga, Nichol Pareja, Kenneth Maramba, Jeroen Meijers, Edgar Nieto and more, please continue to do the Philippines and your pro team proud!

Congratulations VSPC! Here's to more victories for the country soon!

PHILIPPINES Win Big at Acer's Asia Pacific Predator League 2024

From a gamer spectator such as me, I always knew the Philippines would fare well in the recent regional competition, Acer's Predator League 2024. At the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City Philippines, fans flocked to this venue to watch DOTA 2 and Valorant country representatives (in Asia Pacific) as they battle it out to see who's best in this region.

There were over 26 world class teams who were raring to do their best in the 2 day event. The prelims was fun albeit being a bit uneasy for some teams because they had only one match to qualify for the next round. It certainly wasn't easy to adjust that fast but those who did took advantage of the format and won their respective rounds. It was also fun to also talk to the eSports athletes before they went into the actual match, here's some of them on video!

The international eSports teams also talked about their experience doing the tournament here in Manila. They did expect matches would be hard since some of them are Tier 1 franchise teams, and a lot of them wanted to experience what it feels like being in a match with them. Although some of them lost their matches, they learned a lot in the process and promise to be back with an even greater team soon.

Aside from that, executives from different regions went on to tell us how it's been actually very beneficial to run these events in their respective countries. To say the least, business has been good and they are planning to do the regional Predator League in Malaysia next year. They also want to do it bigger and better in the coming years as they find big value in knowing how name recall plays in the gaming industry and that's exactly why they're number 1 in the market!

PABLO was super good!

The Asia Pacific Predator League was also the best in entertainment. World class Filipino performers showed up and got us partying at the start, between games and in the finale. On day 1 alone, I got my dose of Valorant fare as Ylona Garcia who sang "Entertain Me" when NEON was launched as a character, oh how I love her! Aside from that, Urbanddub, Al James and Donny Pangilinan joined in the fun plus a full Valorant game with SB19 and other Acer influencers made the evening extra epic! Asia's Popstar Royalty Sarah Geronimo also ended the day with her performance, people were at awe! 

Day 2 had Josh Cullen, bands Sandwich and Spongecola, Pablo (who did a new single on stage) and KZ Tandingan give us the absolute best in Philippine talents, it was like a full blown concert with the games on the finale day.

And in the end, it was a sweet day for the Philippines as Team Secret won the Valorant championship and Blacklist International Rivalry won the DOTA2 championship. Both teams from the Philippines won 65,000 dollars and their own Predator Shield. Initially, BOOM Esports was actually favored to challenge Team Secret, but Japan's FAV Gaming surprised them all. They got 20,000 dollars together with Execration (for DOTA2), and BOOM Esports + Team Flash got 3rd Place with a 7,500 pot each. Team Aster and IHC Esports got the same for DOTA2. Intel MVP awards went to Jeremy “Jremy” Cabrera (for Valorant) and Marc Polo “Raven”Fausto (for DOTA2), getting a prize of 10,000 dollars too.

If you're up to it, some of the performances are already up on my TikTok account so just search @kumagcow there, and some of the country interviews were done live on my FB page (just search kumagcow) as it's all there!

 

#TEAMLOVE with BANINAY BAUTISTA and BONT BRYAN

People have definitely fascinated with the lives of Baninay Bautista and Bont Bryan Oropel on YouTube. With almost 4 Million subscribers on the platform, they've continued to delight the public and their subscribers especially those invested about their relationship. They're going to take it up a notch this year as they start a full on YouTube reality series called "TEAM LOVE: THE REALITY" premiering this April 1st on their respective YouTube channels.

As you may know, theirs ain't a perfect relationship. They've been on an off in different times, and you'll see this raw on the show. They will include several important people from their families, and also several celebrity friends (which they will divulge later). This event was attended by over 100 YouTubers, influencers, friends and family (and media people). 

We watched the first episode, and surely, it was so surprising that they didn't leave out the stressful fights and personal moments which might be very interesting for some.

We got to interview them before the screening and here's what transpired on video:

 

 

This will be 6 episodes that will be released in the consecutive Sundays after April 1st, so make sure you subscribe to their channels and see what's happening with TEAM LOVE in front and behind the scenes.