ALLAN THE MAN

San Mig Coffee superstar James Yap came out with guns blazing against Rain or Shine Wednesday night, scoring 15 points in the first quarter. He easily broke his tournament high total by the third quarter, and it seemed no one could stop him.

But Elasto Painters defensive specialist Jireh Ibañes was able to get into Yap’s head, and the two-time Most Valuable Player ended up getting ejected. All Yap could do was watch as the Mixers collapsed and yielded to Rain or Shine, 80-79.

Oceans apart, Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez have both begun their sparring sessions on Monday, according to reports from their respective camps.

Pacquiao and Marquez slug it out on December 8 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

It was Pacquiao who actually staged his own sparring session when he went three rounds with Filipino welterweight Antony Marcial at the gym owned by businessman Rey Golingan.

The finals of the FIBA Asia Champions Cup has been postponed because of the worsening security situation in Beirut, Lebanon.

FIBA Asia confirmed the development in a news item on its website. Al Riyadi Beirut of Lebanon and Mahram of Iran had been scheduled to play in the final match. “FIBA Asia will take a decision on holding the Final Game of the event very soon,” said the organization’s secretary-general Hagop Khajirian.

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The NCAA management committee has decided to uphold the recommendation of commissioner Joe Lipa on Letran coach Louie Alas regarding who made a “slit-throat” gesture in Game Two of the NCAA finals last Saturday at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.

The Knights clinched the equalizer, 64-55, in Game Two behind double-double performances from Jonathan Belorio and Jam Cortes. But an untoward incident took place in the dying seconds as technical committee member Romy Guevarra crossed the court towards the direction of the Letran bench where he reportedly gave Alas a dirty finger sign.

The Philippines has made the cut in Miss International for 5th consecutive year courtesy of Nicole Schmitz.

During the final phase of Miss International, the Top 15 semi-finalists each deliver a speech on why they should win the crown.

Our very own Nicole Schmitz made a terrific speech that could have won her the crown or at least put her as one of the runners up. What are they thinking?

The Philippine Football Federation, together with the Philippine Sports Commission, is exerting all efforts to make the Rizal Memorial Football Stadium a viable home venue for the national football team should it advance to the semifinals of the 2012 ASEAN Football Federation Suzuki Cup.

When the Azkals reached the semifinals of the Suzuki Cup two years ago, the Filipinos were forced to play their home match in Indonesia due to a lack of venue that meets the organizers’ standard. Indonesia won the series on aggregate, 2-0, to end the team’s surprising run in the tournament.