Archive for August, 2009

The Powerade-Team Pilipinas team bowed to defending champion Iran, 78-88, Tuesday in the 25th FIBA Asia men’s basketball championship in Tianjin, China.

After falling behind by as many as 24 points in the first half, the Filipinos made a spirited rally to threaten within 73-82 on back-to-back treys by Willie Miller with still 4:10 left.

But the Nationals’ successive misses from the beyond the arc sandwiching a basket by Oshin Shakian and a triple by Mahdi Kamrani allowed Iran to seize a fresh 87-73 lead, 1:59 left. Read the rest of this entry »

Steven Purugganan (born July 30, 1997) is a Filipino-American from Longmeadow, Massachusetts who is a two-time sport stacking world champion. At the 2009 World Sport Stacking Championship held in Denver, Colorado, he successfully defended his world champion title and broke three world records. He broke his own world record in the 3-6-3 with a time of 2.15 seconds. He partnered with his older brother Andrew in the Doubles competition to regain the world record back in 7.58 seconds. Then Steven teamed up with three Team USA teammates in the Timed 3-6-3 Relay turning in a record 12.72. He now holds all five world records in sport stacking — all three individual events (3-3-3, 3-6-3, and the Cycle), doubles, and the timed 3-6-3 team relay.

Purugganan has been in the national media spotlight with a front-page article in The Wall Street Journal, a one-page article in Time Magazine titled “Stacktacular” and one in ESPN The Magazine titled “How to Pile the Plastic.” Read the rest of this entry »