Pacquiao voted PSA Athlete of the Year
February 04, 2009 03:36:00
Cedelf P. Tupas
Philippine Daily Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines—Manny Pacquiao accomplished so much last year and did so with uncommon valor and panache.
He came out on top of a bloody war with the technically proficient Juan Manuel Marquez to snatch the Mexican’s World Boxing Council super featherweight title in March.
He virtually tortured tough David Diaz before the then Mexican-American WBC lightweight champion finally yielded in the ninth round in June.
And when the stakes got higher, he rose to the occasion, handing the sport’s biggest star Oscar “Golden Boy” De La Hoya a corner-to-corner beating, perhaps the worst of the American’s checkered career, in a welterweight “Dream Match” in December.
For these reasons and more, Pacquiao—who has been a unifying factor to a country bedeviled by political and economic turmoil—was the hands-down choice of the Philippine Sportswriters Association as its Athlete of the Year for 2008, following “his heartwarming success in the ring and for elevating Philippine boxing to a higher level.”
And while the accomplishments of Women’s World Cup champion duo of golfers Jennifer Rosales and Dorothy Delasin, young chess whiz Wesley So, wushu artist Willy Wang, boxer Nonito Donaire and golfers Angelo Que and Dottie Ardina were also worth considering for the most prestigious award handed out by the country’s oldest media group, they paled in comparison to Pacquiao’s.
The award marks the fifth time the 60-year-old PSA, made up of sportswriters from the various national broadsheets and tabloids, will bestow its highest award to Pacquiao.
Source: http://www.inquirer.net
Manny Pacquiao is deserving, hands down.
Wesley, Donito, and others 2nd.
Who cares ?