National Artist Napoleon Abueva Receives Award at DPC-PLDT Visual Arts Competition

The late National Artist for Sculpture Napoleon V. Abueva was honored with a special tribute by Directories Philippines Corporation (DPC) and the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) during the awarding ceremony of the DPC-PLDT Visual Arts Competition 32 (VAC 32) held at the Cultural Center of the Philippines recently. DPC and PLDT presented a special plaque of appreciation for the late national artist to Dr. Sergia Abueva, the National Artist’s widow and his daughter, Amihan Abueva. Dean Abueva, who passed away on February 16, 2018, helped establish the foundation for the VAC, along with deans of other Fine Arts schools in the Philippines. As part of the tribute, replicas of the original trophy designed by Dean Abueva in 1990 were given to the schools of the top three winners of VAC 32. Above, DPC Chief Operating Officer Arturo Diago (left), founding VAC Project Director Fred Amat, and long-time VAC Coordinator of PLDT Robert Sarte present the award to Dr. Sergia Abueva and Amihan Abueva. Fittingly, too, the unique ceramic trophies for each of the VAC 32 major prize winners had been designed by Lanelle Abueva-Fernando, niece of the late National Artist.

ONE Championship Rises As Largest Stand-Up Organization in the World

Fresh off the debut of its highly-anticipated ONE Super Series on 20 April at ONE: HEROES OF HONOR, ONE Championship offered fans a taste of what’s to expect with its latest innovation -- an all-striking league showcasing the best of the world’s striking martial arts.

The premise is simple. ONE Championship wants to provide a proving ground for the world’s best strikers to face each other under a single banner -- a prestigious global platform to showcase the beauty of striking arts such as Muay Thai, kickboxing, karate, taekwondo, Kung Fu, wushu, sanda, silat, lethwei, and more.

Last Friday night in Manila, ONE Championship showed fans a glimpse of the sort of action that they can look forward to with ONE Super Series -- and it was legendary.

Gracing the promotion’s all-new five-rope ring was kickboxing superstar Giorgio “The Doctor” Petrosyan, who put on an absolute clinic against opponent Jo Nattawut of Thailand. Also in action was Muay Thai legend and former 4-time Lumpinee Stadium champion Nong-O Gaiyanghadao who took on France’s Fabio Pinca.

For those who don’t know, Petrosyan and Gaiyanghadao are two of the most famous legends in the world of striking martial arts. The mere fact that they appeared together on the same card is just mind-blowing. If ONE Championship’s aim is to introduce these striking legends to the world, it has certainly achieved its goal early on.

Needless to say, both Petrosyan and Gaiyanghadao lived up to their billing and turned in inspiring performances. For the first time in history, an audience the magnitude of ONE Championship’s 1.7 billion potential viewers in over 136 countries worldwide were able to witness the greatness of these athletes.

And there’s much more to come. Names such as Lerdsila, Yodsaenklai Fairtex, Sam-A Gaiyanghadao, and Singtongnoi Por Telakun have also been announced as having joined ONE Super Series.

By having these monumental figures of striking martial arts, and encompassing multiple styles of martial arts, ONE Championship has effectively become the largest stand-up organization in the world.

Other organizations such as Glory Kickboxing or K-1 offer a similar product. But by having more than one “flavor” of martial arts on its menu, ONE Championship emerges as the undisputed pack leader. And with bigger names to boot, ONE Super Series will continue to draw massive audiences.

The next event to feature ONE Super Series bouts will be ONE: GRIT AND GLORY, which takes place 12 May in Jakarta, Indonesia. This is followed by ONE: UNSTOPPABLE DREAMS which happens a week later in Singapore.

Both cards offer a handful of compelling ONE Super Series contests. Singapore in particular will see the first ONE Super Series world champion crowned when Sam-A Gaiyanghadao takes on Sergio “Little One” Wielzen of the Netherlands for the inaugural ONE Super Series Flyweight Muay Thai World Championship.

ONE Championship aims to gradually assimilate ONE Super Series bouts into its cards, and athletes will be able to select from a series of ring and cage rule sets where they wish to compete. This means that kickboxers could move into Muay Thai, or Lethwei, or Sanda, if they wanted to. The flexibility opens up a myriad of possible combinations that should have martial arts enthusiasts salivating.

The invitation is also open to its current roster of mixed martial artists. So it wouldn’t be far-fetched to think of maybe someone like ONE Heavyweight World Champion Brandon Vera competing under Muay Thai rules against one of these striking legends. It’s a bold step forward in the right direction for ONE Championship, who prides itself in being the ‘Home of Martial Arts’. With ONE Super Series, the promotion certainly lives up to its reputation.

Eventually, the promotion envisions staging standalone ONE Super Series cards in the future. It’s an ambitious project that will take the combined efforts of ONE Championship’s elite team of professionals working behind the scenes to make sure each event is a smashing success. But one, that if it takes off, will turn out to be an idea of pure genius.

At its core, it is a celebration of the purity of striking. For fans who crave the sort of classic action and excitement that will leave them on the edge of their seats, they need look no further than ONE Super Series.

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For more updates on ONE Championship, please visit www.onefc.com, follow us on Twitter and Instagram @ONEChampionship, and like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ONEChampionship.

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*This is Press Release

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds Southeast Asia Championship

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG), the internationally acclaimed 100-man battle royale esport developed by PUBG Corporation, has set the challenge for aspiring Southeast Asian PUBG players. MET is on the search for the absolute best PUBG squads as they announce the PUBG Southeast Asia Championship presented by ROG. The competition is officially sanctioned by PUBG Corporation, and is part of the lead up to the recently announced PUBG Global Invitational (PGI 2018), to be held in Berlin on July.

PUBG’s appeal has captured the attention of many players across the globe. The 100-man scavenging and survival battle royale game has players forming squads of up to four members in an attempt to eliminate the rest of the competition to come out on top and claim the top spot of each game. The naturally competitive nature of PUBG has spawned multiple games with similar mechanics and helps form the game itself into a fully-fledged esport.

ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG), the world’s #1 gaming brand, is choosing PUBG as their newest grounds for competitive gaming. With its full squad of professional gaming products, ranging from motherboards, graphics cards, monitors, notebooks, peripherals, and routers, ASUS ROG is set to deliver the best gaming experience in this year’s biggest competition in the region.

The PUBG Southeast Asia Championship is MET’s latest regional tournament, a true testament to MET’s claim as the top esports organizer in Asia. MET continuously delivers optimal esports tournaments for both aspiring and professional gamers across the entirety of Asia. The PUBG tournament will run concurrently across five venues with six nationalities on the road to the SEA regional final.

The grand PUBG tournament will seek the best squads across six different countries in five different qualifiers before advancing for the national qualifiers of each country. The best squads from each country's national qualifier will head on to the SEA Finals in Thailand on June 23-24, 2018 to crown the best SEA squad.

Tournament Schedule

National Qualifiers

PH: May 5 – June 3

ID: April 28 – May 13

MY/SG: May 5 – May 27

TH: May 7 – June 10

VN: May 12 – June 3

National Finals

PH: June 9 – 10

ID: May 19 – 20

MY/SG: TBA

TH: June 22

VN: June 16

Regional Finals

June 23-24, in Thailand

Pride and glory are all on the line, as both the Thai National Champions, as well as the overall Regional Champions will be moving on to the PUBG Global Invitational in Berlin on July.

The PUBG Southeast Asia Championship qualifiers will officially kick off on April 28, 2018 and is open to all PUBG squads who are willing to accept the challenge of becoming SEA’s top PUBG squad.

For more updates and information, make sure to follow facebook.com/asusrogph, facebook.com/PUBG.PHIL and facebook.com/organizedbyMET