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LJ International Revenue Rises 30% In First Quarter 2004

July 2, 2011 By 1 Comment

HONG KONG and LOS ANGELES, CA (PRWEB) May 15, 2004

LJ International Revenue Rises 30% In First Quarter 2004


Operating Income Up 32% as Jewelry Firm Begins Expansion Into China’s Retail Market

First Quarter Highlights:

– Revenue of $ 14.5 million, up 30% from $ 11.1 million in the first quarter of 2003.

– Net income of $ 421,000, or $ 0.04 per fully diluted share, compared to $ 358,000, also $ 0.04 per share, a year earlier. This is the Company’s seventh straight profitable quarter.

– Operating income of $ 572,000, up 32% from $ 434,000 in the first quarter of 2003.

– Balance sheet remains strong with over $ 5.3 million in cash and zero long-term debt.

– Company makes significant move into China during first quarter, with new Hong Kong showroom and Mainland Chinese Government approval for accelerated expansion.

LJ International, Inc. (LJI) (JADE), one of the fastest-growing fine jewelry companies in the world, today announced financial results for the first quarter of 2004, ending March 31.

The year-over-year revenue increase continued the trend of the past year, when sales rose 26% from 2002 to 2003. The Company attributed the first- quarter rise in sales to acceptance of new products, new customers as well as an increase in orders from existing customers.

During the first quarter, LJI made its first significant entry into the mainland Chinese retail jewelry market, opening up its first Hong Kong showroom and gaining government approval to expand its product lines into China. Since the end of the first quarter it has announced two other major Chinese marketing initiatives. One is a memorandum of understanding to market and sell LJI jewelry through a joint venture with China Commerce Group a leading China-based operator of several retail outlets including the upscale ”China Friendship Shops,” Hualian Department Stores and Juntai Department stores, among others. The other is a new strategic vendor partnership under which LJI is now selling jewelry featuring colored stones through the global retailer Carrefour. Carrefour is the second largest retailer in the world and the operator of 35 giant ”hypermarkets” in China.

The Company also announced in the first quarter that it had received initial orders from Australia’s largest TV home shopping network, and it announced that it had received a $ 1.3 million order for colored-stone jewelry from the largest warehouse club chain in the U.S.

”Our first-quarter financial results, which were at the higher end of our earlier guidance, clearly indicate that LJI is successfully executing its expansion strategy,” said Yu Chuan Yih, LJI’s chairman and CEO. ”The combination of new product introductions and new customers are the primary reasons behind our sales growth. Our plans to rapidly expand into the fast- growing Chinese consumer market are expected to generate a new and growing revenue channel for LJI in the current and coming years. Excluding potential contributions from China, we continue to remain comfortable with double digit revenue growth in the coming quarters. Earnings should also be favorably impacted by our progress in growing sales while decreasing our overall expenses as a percentage of overall sales.”

Balance Sheet Continues to Strengthen

As of March 31, 2004, LJI reported cash and cash equivalents of $ 5.34 million with zero long-term debt. The strength in the Company’s balance sheet should provide LJI with the necessary financial flexibility to execute on its growth initiatives, particularly as it begins its penetration of the Chinese market.

Company Sees Continued Sales Growth

For the second quarter of 2004, the Company said it expected sales to total between $ 13.5million and $ 14.0 million, or 12% to 21% above the $ 11.6 million reported in the second quarter of 2003. It indicated that revenues appear to be on track to reach its 2004 full-year target of approximately $ 68 million, representing an approximate 17% gain over the $ 58.2 million reported for all of 2003. The Company is projecting EPS between $ 0.01 to $ 0.02 for the second quarter of 2004.

If you would like to be added to LJI’s investor email lists, please contact Haris Tajyar with Investor Relations International at htajyar@irintl.com.

Conference Call Information

LJI will be conducting a conference call today at 11:00 a.m. EDT to discuss first quarter results. If you would like to participate live via phone, please dial 877-407-8031 and ask for LJ International, Inc. call. International callers can dial 201-689-8031.

About LJ International

LJ International Inc. is a publicly-owned company, based in Hong Kong and the U.S., engaged in designing, branding, marketing and distributing a full range of fine jewelry. It has built its global business, currently one of the fastest-growing in the jewelry industry, on a vertical integration strategy and an unwavering commitment to quality and service. LJI distributes to fine jewelers, department stores, national jewelry chains and electronic and specialty retailers throughout North America and Western Europe, with a growing retail presence in China through stores and e-shopping sites. Its product lines incorporate all major categories sought by major retailers, including earrings, necklaces, pendants, rings and bracelets. It trades on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol JADE.

For more information on LJI, please visit the Company’s Web site at http://www.ljintl.com.

Forward looking statement: Except for the historical information, the matters discussed in this news release may contain forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, factors relating to future sales. These forward-looking statements may involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual results may vary significantly based on a number of factors, including, but not limited to, uncertainties in product demand, the impact of competitive products and pricing, changing economic conditions around the world, release and sales of new products and other risk factors detailed in the company’s most recent annual report and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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MEN, REST ASSURED: THERE IS LIFE AFTER BIRTH

July 2, 2011 By 10 Comments

(PRWEB) May 3, 2003

Fathers, especially first-timers, are in need of guidance and wisdom, according to Andre Stein and Peter Samu, authors of the new book, FATHER’S MILK: Nourishment and Wisdom for the First-Time Father (Capital Books, May 2002, $ 18.95 hardcover). “Kids complain—in words and in deeds—about missing the active presence of their dads. Women, our partners, are frustrated, disappointed, and even angry. And finally, fathers themselves end up confused, helpless, and all too often, absent.

The authors, fathers with an accumulated 130 years of parenting between them, noted that there are plenty of support and information sources for mothers—courses, workshops, TV programs, and their own mothers. “There is very little available for men,” Stein says, “And practically nothing that speaks to them with empathy, wisdom, and credibility. The few books on fathering I’ve been able to find are spiritless manuals. Others are written by women, in a condescending and patronizing tone.”

FATHER’S MILK introduces the concept of “conscious fathering.” Conscious fathering means hearing and seeing your child and learning from him or her what is lacking in upbringing. “It is my firm belief that truly loving our children means we have to rise above the lowest common denominator and act in a conscious mode, keeping in mind their best interest as well as ours.” Passion and compassion are the in inseparable twins of conscious fathers—the right balance of each makes it possible to teach a child how to become a competent adult and to know when to step back and allow her to make her own decisions.

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A PARADIGM SHIFT IN THE SOFTWARE INDUSTRY: EVER HEARD OF NET NATIVE?

June 30, 2011 By 50 Comments

(PRWEB) January 23, 2003

January 20, 2003 – There’s a potentially earthshaking shift occurring in the way software is sold and deployed but even the most sophisticated computer users would be hard-pressed to describe the term “Net Native”-although many already engage the type of online software the term describes.

The common denominator is of course the Internet. When you turn on your computer and check into your customized My.Yahoo.com home page and look at a customized news portal, receive e-mail and check an online calendar and address book, that’s Net Native. The only software required to access the my.yahoo page is a Web browser and it doesn’t matter whether it sits on top of Windows, Mac OS, Linux or any other operating system. It’s all Net Native. The actual software that powers these applications is situated on servers that could be anywhere in the world; Yahoo upgrades and maintains it at all times.

Even though Net Native is a new concept, the larger companies are backing it strongly, with Microsoft at the lead with its .Net technology.

“Net-native software is designed from inception to live in the Internet and to be remotely accessed across the Internet,” explained Douglas Kerwin, founder and CEO of the Princeton, NJ Metaverse Corporation, leading provider of Net Native content management software for the business. “It’s a many to one relationship-many clients access the same application.”

This is of course in contrast to consumers purchasing a box of software and bringing it home to install and later to upgrade to a newer version, or install a patch or fix a bug. At the business level, the potential shift is even more profound.

When a business maintains a Web site, its software requires even more care. A great deal of time and effort and manpower is directed toward maintaining and updating enterprise- level software with content management software. In the traditional model, great deal of consulting time is required to launch and support this software because customization is inevitable.

Kerwin predicts that these days are soon over. “A new software environment is at hand,” he stated. Metaverse enjoys a first mover advantage for the purely net-native option and is an early follower of the new trend to shift from providing licensed packaged software to supplying as a service over the Web. The Metaverse Content Server allows users to place their content on Web sites without the use of a technical resource. Using Microsoft Word or a similar product, they now have a mechanism to get their content to the Web site without the assistance of a technical resource.

“Net native software is a low risk, low investment, high return software alternative,” added Kerwin. “Our content management system comes with a monthly or annual subscription fee. We host and maintain our own software so clients can quickly deploy an enterprise-class solution cost effectively, without the trouble or cost of continued maintenance. We think that’s the way it should be. It contains all the benefits and none of the headaches of Content Management software. It carries with it the opportunity to concentrate on the return on investment that it delivers when combined with workflow and the tuning of business processes.”

“It is the logical extension of the Internet and the history of software development,” Kerwin says. “When browsers like Netscape and Internet Explorer functioned across all platforms, it was a breakthrough that has led to this revolution in the making today.”

As Kerwin sees it, Webmasters who must manage large dynamic websites, changing content on behalf of an enterprise, will soon become a quaint notion of the past, with their jobs will converting to something that will aid work flow, functionality or even esthetics. Fewer will also be required, another cost savings, Kerwin said. Content owners will also be engaged in the process from the creation to the publishing of traditional and web documents.

“By ending the need for Webmasters to manage huge flows of rich media, graphical, text and numerical information or make tiny changes in prices or replace sections of content, they can be freed to work in new ways that are just emerging make the site better, make it look better or offer better services,” added Kerwin. “New flows of large data will emerge that add value for customer and will lead to the creation of new information products and services.”

Kerwin sees the new Webmaster as performing a kind of “curatorial” function in which content, curation and technical consulting could help customers focus on creating new products and services and tuning business processes. This is especially true of high-content environments. “When terabytes of data can flow through a website on the fly you are in a new place,” said Kerwin.

“A new focus will emerge,” Kerwin added. “We see a new esthetic emerging in these web environments.” To evangelize the potential of this new esthetic vision, his company even hosts an art gallery project that demonstrates the possibilities of moving creatively in new as yet to be fully defined directions. “There is room for pioneers,” Kerwin said. “Our business development process is looking for such innovators. Web developers and developers using or interested in using Microsoft .NET and Web Services in dramatically new ways. We know Microsoft is watching for these new leaders to emerge as art and industry work together.”

Kerwin believes that virtually all enterprise software will someday be Net Native and that significant cost savings will result. “When software is freed from its box and the need for heavy consulting support–that is good for the client and good for the industry, there is no longer a need for heavy consulting support. The software company’s attention is directed toward providing the most value to customers, not performing installations all over the country. The cost savings is dramatic and the opportunity to innovate rises by a quantum leap.”

“Providing technology as a service focuses on the benefits to the business,” Kerwin also commented. “Senior managers in the end do not really care about databases and application servers apart from the benefit they can bring their businesses. When software becomes a subscription service, you pay for the value you receive from the software and the cost and maintenance of the infrastructure. That becomes the responsibility of the vendor.”

Kerwin advises companies thinking of shifting to the new paradigm to consider the following in analyzing future software needs:

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Cogent Answers Emergency Services Call For Open Competition

June 28, 2011 By 1 Comment

(PRWEB) December 20, 2002

UK Emergency Services underline need for multiple Digital PMR networks

18th December, London – Following the findings of a recent report from analyst house BWCS, Cogent Defence and Security Networks has signalled its desire to participate in a open competition for the provision of national digital radio network for the UK’s fire & ambulance services.

Cogent welcomed the ministerial decision earlier this year to allow the Wide Area Radio Replacement procurements for the Ambulance and Fire Services. This decision was based on the condition that any new national network would be able to inter-operate with the Police’s Airwave network at incident and command levels.

Len Tyler, Managing Director, Cogent-DSN, explains, “Competition rather than monopoly is clearly the best proposition, both for the British taxpayer and the individual emergency services. Without competition in this area, there is little incentive to provide innovative or cost-effective services. However competition to supply and manage a radio network service is entirely dependent on useable spectrum. Cogent has expressed its concerns to Ministers about the lack of certainty on this front and is eager to be briefed on a satisfactory solution.”

The BWCS report into the UK emergency services infrastructure investigated the likely impacts of a large-scale emergency on current and future communications networks. In creating the report BWCS interviewed senior IT and communications managers from 20 fire, police and ambulance services.

Tyler commented, “The BWCS Report highlights a number of significant areas of interest for us, the key finding of the report suggested that the UK’s emergency services would benefit greatly from complimentary digital networks. The report also suggests that, based on the desires and requirements of the respondents, the government must ensure a policy of open competition in the tender process.”

The report details a number of issues with the current police network, including very poor data communications capability and indicated that they would be forced to use cellular and public networks to overcome this problem. Moreover issues of coverage, redundancy and capacity were highlighted in the report as the three main problems with the existing systems. The report also underlines significant security and redundancy concerns if the UK’s emergency services were to rely on a singular network.

Tyler continued, “This report validates our technology vision and for the first time gives us some real insight into the needs and demands of the UK’s emergency services. TETRAPOL has 1 million subscribers world-wide, rising to 4 million on completion of contacted networks, and has been proven to excel in security, capacity and redundancy – the exact areas of concern, as detailed in this report.

Cogent looks forward to the procurement process for both the Fire and Ambulance networks and we reiterate the report’s call for an open competition in this process. We’ve long been confident that TETRAPOL would be the more suitable digital PMR technology for the UK’s emergency services – this report certainly appears to validate that argument.”

-ends-

About Cogent DSN

Cogent Defence and Security Networks Limited, is the UK business unit of EADS Telecom and the focal point of telecommunications for EADS in UK.

Web-site: http://www.cogent-dsn.com

About EADS Telecom

EADS Telecom is the global Centre of Excellence for telecommunications of the EADS Group, the leading Aeronautics, Space and Defence Company in Europe and second worldwide.

EADS Telecom is a supplier of turnkey telecommunications networks based on civil technologies for the Security, Defence and civil markets with a complete range of solutions “Connexity”, whose common denominator is security.

With a local presence in 11 countries, EADS TELECOM has 3500 employees in Europe, the United States and Mexico, with pro forma revenues of EUR 860 million worldwide in 2001.

Web-site: http://www.eads-telecom.net

For further information please contact:

Jeremy Wrench or Clare Bragg

Companycare Communications

T: 0118 939 5900

E: jeremy@companycare.com

Clare@companycare.com

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Commercial Real Estate Investment Bank ? Pacific Security Capital – Presents Risks & Benefits of Investing in Emerging Markets

June 23, 2011 By 3 Comments

Beaverton, OR, (PRWEB) October 18, 2005

http://www.pacificsecuritycapital.com – Pacific Security Capital (?PSC?), a leading commercial real estate investment bank providing commercial loans, structured finance, equity financing, investment sales and advisory services, explains the risks and benefits of investing in emerging markets.

Commercial real estate investors are facing the most competitive commercial real estate market environment in recent history. Improved market efficiencies coupled with today?s surplus of capital flow have created a reduction in the total investment returns that can be achieved on investments in the U.S. commercial real estate industry.

?Instead of disinvesting themselves from commercial real estate allocations, investment managers are now looking around for higher growth markets,? said Mike Myatt, Executive Managing Director, Pacific Security Capital. ?Emerging Markets in Eastern Europe, India, Latin America, China, and the rest of Asia present scenarios for higher growth, even on a risk adjusted basis.?

The following factors will allow commercial real estate investors to achieve higher returns by investing in emerging markets as opposed to the U.S. market.

Rising Economies:

Over the past decade, the twin drivers of expanding world trade as well as a more globalized production system have permitted a number of Emerging Markets to experience the highest GDP rates in the world.

Demographics:

For the most part, Emerging Markets represent younger populations, growing numbers of well-educated professionals, an expanding middle class, growing consumer bases, urbanization, and rising incomes

Commercial Demand:

The economic expansion as well as the presence of global companies that bring employment oriented around intellectual capital is creating demand for modern, western style, commercial real estate infrastructure.

Residential Demand:

One of the biggest exports the U.S. has had over the past twenty years has been culture and lifestyle. As the successful Emerging Market economies undergo the demographic shifts described above, demand for western style single family residences as well as modern multifamily is experiencing explosive growth.

Closed Market Systems Opening Up:

Most successful Emerging Markets have been engaged in systematic reform of basic societal values we take for granted in the developed world. These include property rights, legal process, published regulations etc.

?Despite the many benefits of investing in emerging markets, investors should do so with extreme caution,? said Jim Kean, Managing Director & Chief Investment Officer, Pacific Security Capital.

Some of the most common risks of investing in emerging markets include:

Political risk:

The process of modernizing the economies and systems of emerging markets does not represent a steady or predictable process, which has been influenced by political developments.

Legal and regulatory transparency:

It is important to properly understand a country?s system for governing property rights and development if significant investment returns are to be expected.

Property rights:

In the U.S., title companies provide a very systematic, quickly researched method for determining legal descriptions of property as well as what constitutes a claim on the subject property. Things are not nearly as straight-forward in an emerging market.

Lack of professional commercial real estate skills:

Emerging markets are fragmented and lack the professional services a developed world investor may take for granted.

Operational and logistical concerns:

Maintaining offshore investments in commercial real estate can add to the complexity of operational and logistical efficiencies.

Liquidity concerns:

Lack of central databases as well as public records of transactions means that there is a deficiency of market pricing information to make comparisons as well as drive transactions. Reduced market transparency also means that transactions take longer to close.

Infrastructure:

In the U.S., there is an assumption of basic infrastructure as structured and mandated by an organized governmental authority. In many cases, rules governing infrastructure and who is responsible for it barely exist in these emerging market countries

Zoning and impairment:

Every market has a different approach to what the owners of properties around your property may or may not do. In many of these environments, little or no zoning exists. The risk of someone engaging in development detrimental to the value of your property is very real.

Capital Controls:

When confronting the issue of repatriating capital from a successful commercial real estate investment, there is a real danger of not being able to extract capital and/or profits from the Emerging Market.

Currency Risks:

Let?s say U.S. investor is taking dollars and purchasing an Indian property denominated in rupees. Two years later the property sells and you record a big profit. However, if you did not hedge the currency, you risk recording a loss or at least a reduced profit because of exchange differences.

?While all of these risks (and more) can be present in emerging markets investments, these risk factors can be successfully managed by engaging the appropriate professional advisor,? said Kean. ?A successful emerging markets investment strategy will involve selecting a set of advisors who can help a new investor navigate the maze of issues present in each geographic area.?

For more information on investing in emerging markets, visit http://www.pacificsecuritycapital.com or contact Pacific Security Capital at 1-800-844-6085.

About Pacific Security Capital

Pacific Security Capital is a leading commercial real estate investment bank providing commercial real estate loans, structured finance, investment sales and corporate, professional and advisory services. PSC is headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon with other offices worldwide. More information about the company can be found at http://www.PacificSecurityCapital.com.

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Business Intelligence Provider Hoover’s Releases Latest Edition of “The Hoover’s Index” of the Top 1,000 Most Searched Companies

June 21, 2011 By 1 Comment


Austin, TX (PRWEB) July 7, 2007 -

Hoover’s, Inc. today announced the latest edition of “The Hoover’s Index,” a free, proprietary monthly index of the leading public and private companies, non-profits, and associations which represent the brand leaders, up-and-comers and “buzz” creators driving the U.S. and international economies.

 

The Hoover’s Index, which reveals monthly spikes in business search activity, is based on a proprietary algorithm that takes into account the search trends of business professionals, including both organic and internal searches on Hoover’s site, as well as business searches conducted via major search engines. Movement above and below index determines ranking, instead of gross search volume.

“The high rankers in this latest edition of The Hoover’s Index include two repeat performers from the Top 10 on the previous list,” said Tim Walker, Hoover’s industry analyst. “With both buyout offers and initial public offerings in the multi-billion dollar range, the almighty dollar is truly the common denominator in this latest batch of big movers on The Hoover’s Index.”

 

The Blackstone Group L.P. (Index #842)

Blackstone’s dominant performance on The Hoover’s Index month after month reveals a fundamental shift in how the business world regards the private equity firm. A company that keeps showing up near the top of the Index month after month doesn’t get there solely because of heavy search activity. Because of the way the Index is calculated, the company has to keep beating its average search activity by a mile, even as that average continues to rise. Blackstone was making noise in the second half of 2006 with a variety of leveraged buyouts. Then came its bidding war against Vornado for the right to buy Equity Office Properties. And then . . . Blackstone’s IPO, which dominated the financial news in late June. The short version: Blackstone has gone from being prominent in its own niche industry to being one of the business world’s rock stars.

 

VMware, Inc. (Index #398)

Though it lacked the marquee appeal of the Blackstone IPO, VMware rode high throughout May (when it ranked 15th on the Index) and June thanks to its own announcement that it would make a $ 100 million public offering — equivalent to 10% of the company. Since then, the software company has punched above its weight in commanding the attention of Hoover’s users. Credit where it’s due, though: VMware, which was founded in 1998, is a heavyweight in the field of virtualization software, and it brought in more than $ 700 million in revenue in 2006. VMware’s wares allow network administrators to spread computer functions across multiple systems or servers so that the various machines act as one. This allows big users of computing power to lower operating costs, since they need less hardware to carry out the same computing tasks. Storage powerhouse EMC has owned VMware since 2004.

 

Facebook, Inc. (Index #364)

In the world of Internet business, networking hub Facebook is the “It Company” of the moment. It seems like you can’t turn around without stumbling across the smiling mug of its young CEO/founder, Mark Zuckerberg, on the cover of a business magazine. Why? The 23-year-old Zuckerberg has garnered lots of attention for turning down a rumored $ 1 billion buyout offer from Yahoo!. Mind you, he didn’t turn it down for the publicity — it’s apparent that he believes he has bigger fish to fry with Facebook, which is growing like gangbusters. (It’s adding more than 100,000 users on an average day.) These days there’s also huge overall interest in social media sites/companies, including MySpace and LinkedIn, because as a group they’ve gone beyond being interesting: now they’re actually important in business terms. Finally, Facebook has recently launched an innovative platform strategy, which allows the company to act as a Web portal and provide online services, for example, to let people see where their friends have traveled, or what they’re shopping for. The company started by connecting college students, but now it has gone far beyond the campus.

 

Washington Group International, Inc. (Index #364)

This Washington does not usually go for a job as small as cutting down a single cherry tree; it would, however, be happy to build you a nuclear power plant. Even after two stints in bankruptcy, Washington Group International remains one of the world’s largest construction and engineering firms. The company, once known as Morrison Knudsen, tackles big jobs: think bridges, highways, factories, pipelines, railroads . . . and nuclear plants. Washington Group also makes a specialty of remediation and decommissioning nuclear facilities, and it rates as one of the top international environmental engineering firms. Now engineering giant URS Corporation is set to buy the company for $ 2.6 billion; Washington Group should win URS an important position in the nuclear business, which has been surging in the face of sustained high prices for fossil fuels.

 

A.G. Edwards, Inc. (Index #327)

Why build a brokerage when you can buy one? That seems to be what’s driving Wachovia in its $ 6.8 billion acquisition of A.G. Edwards, one of the oldest and largest retail brokerages around. Wachovia has been on a tear lately, snapping up a string of banks and other financial services companies. The biggest deal of the bunch was its 2006 purchase of Golden West Financial, which cost more than $ 25 billion. The A.G. Edwards purchase will help Wachovia compete with Merrill Lynch and Citigroup as one of the top brokerage businesses in the U.S.

 

(As an example, a Hoover’s Index of 406 means that search volume was 4.06 times higher than the average search volume.)

 

To see the entire list of The Hoover’s Index, click “here.” Additionally, for those who would like direct delivery of news about the latest developments with The Hoover’s Index, the “Hoover’s Hottest Companies” newsletter is available “here.”

 

The Hoover’s Index, which utilizes more than a billion data points, is compiled from a universe which includes all worldwide companies that trade on a major stock exchange, as well as private companies identified as leaders by Hoover’s business intelligence experts. Hoover’s subscribers can click through from The Hoover’s Index to in-depth coverage of the history, operations, and executives leading each company on the list.

 

Hoover’s combines insightful editorial expertise, proprietary data collection technologies and a smart, engaging presentation to give its customers easy access to the most enlightening business information available.

 

About Hoover’s, Inc.

Hoover’s, a D&B company, gives its customers a competitive edge with insightful information about industries, companies, and key decision makers. Hoover’s provides this up-to-date business information for sales, marketing, business development, and other professionals who need intelligence on U.S. and global companies, industries, and the people who lead them. This information, along with powerful tools to search, sort, download and integrate the content, is available through Hoover’s, the company’s premier online service. Hoover’s business intelligence is also available through corporate intranets and distribution agreements with licensees, as well as via Hoover’s books. The company is headquartered in Austin, Texas.

 

RSS feed (http://www.rsspad.com/rss2/9908.xml)

 

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Bowling, Billiards And Boxing: Pinoy Legendary Athletes Nepomuceno, Reyes, And Pacquiao Are The G. O. A. T.s!

June 21, 2011 By 5 Comments

 

Tungod, Inabanga, Bohol– The Philippines is composed of three major groups of islands, namely; Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. This archipelago in southeast Asia is also home to three major sports personalities that have etched their indelible marks in their respective disciplines. Paeng, Bata, and Pac-Man are names that will always be synonymous to greatness, if not greatest, in their own fields. Rafael “Paeng” Nepomuceno’s achievements in Bowling are unparalleled, while Efren “Bata” Reyes’ mark in Billiards has earned him the reputation as the greatest to have ever held the cue stick. Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao’s exploits in Boxing are unprecedented and unworldly. Bowling, Billiards, and Boxing are sports that did not originate from the Philippines… but in spite of that, these three legendary Pinoy athletes have carved a way to secure the loftiest of distinctions in the sport that they can very well call their own!

Let’s Start off with Rafael “Paeng” Nepomuceno, a six-time World Bowling Champion who owns 118 career bowling titles that include four Bowling World Cups. He is the only bowling athlete in the world who has received the prestigious International Olympic Committee President’s Trophy. Paeng was also the first international male bowling athlete to be enshrined in the International Bowling Hall of Fame and Museum based in St. Louis, Missouri in 1993 where his seven foot image is displayed at the Museum’s entrance. In November 1999, the Federation Internationale des Quilleurs (FIQ) named Paeng as the “International Bowling Athlete of the Millennium” and in September of 2003, Paeng was named by the Prestigious Bowlers Journal International as the “Greatest International Bowler of All Time.”

Paeng is probably best known for being listed in Guiness Book of World Records for three separate distinctions, namely; i.) for being the youngest (at 19 years old) person to win the Bowling World Cup, ii.) for most Bowling World Cup wins (a total of 4), and iii.) for having won the most number of bowling tournament titles (a total of 118).

Nepomuceno’s consistency and dominance over a relatively long period of time is probably what separates him from the rest. This is manifested by the numerous accolades he has received throughout the years, in fact, spanning decades. He is the only athlete in the Philippines who has been given the highest award to a Filipino by three Philippine presidents. In 1984, Paeng was awarded the Presidential Medal of Merit by President Ferdinand E. Marcos. In 1999, President Joseph E. Estrada awarded the Philippine Legion of Honor and in 2008, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo awarded Paeng the Order of Lakandula with Class of Champion for Life and was declared Best Filipino athlete of all time. Both the Philippine Senate and the House of Representatives have declared Paeng the “Greatest Philippine Athlete of All Time”.

Now let’s proceed to possibly the most loved and most adorable Pinoy athlete of all time – Efren “Bata” Reyes. Nicknamed “The Magician”, Reyes requires no introduction to any fan of the game today. Bata took the pool world by storm, winning at least 78 international tournaments along the way. Most great players develop their expertise and exceptional play in one particular pool game, be it pocket billiards, snooker or billiards. It is extremely hard to specialize in 2 of those 3 categories, but Reyes is an all around player. He plays extremely well in all three categories. This separates him from the rest of the pool greats and puts him on a league of his own.

Owning almost certainly the world’s most adorable toothless smile, The Magician has endeared himself to fans with his exciting and magical brand of play that has definitely changed the game in more ways than one. He is a two-time world champion and has two World Cup of Pool titles under his belt that he shares with bosom buddy Francisco “Django” Bustamante. In 2003, Bata became the first Asian to be inducted into the Billiard Congress of America’s Hall of Fame. As a player in professional pool, Reyes has been known to have won a number of money-rich tournaments worldwide. This makes him one of the most profitable players around. To prove it, he topped AZ Billiards Money List 5 times; 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005 and 2006. In 2006 he set a record by earning 6K in a single year.

This brings us to who many might consider as the greatest Filipino athlete of all-time, Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao. The Pinoy firebomb’s legendary rise didn’t come on a silver platter. He had to overcome size disadvantages throughout his rise to boxing superstardom. He is a 4-division lineal world champion (112lbs, 126lbs, 130 lbs, and 140lbs) and 8-division champion in as many weight categories (112lbs, 122lbs, 126lbs, 130lbs, 135lbs, 140lbs, 147lbs, and 154lbs). A handful of boxing pundits and historians still rank him below names like Robinson and Ali in the all-time list. This is to be expected especially that comparisons between greats of different eras present too many problems and what ifs that could be a subject of another topic. Furthermore, rankings are sometimes too subjective and largely depend the biases and prejudices of the one doing the ranking. On that regard, in my eyes and in the eyes of many others, Pacquiao has done more than enough to rank him atop anyone among boxing’s all time greats.

Comments are highly appreciated. You may write them below or send them to reylanloberternos@yahoo.com.phFollow me on twitter reylan_l

Hereunder are articles written by the same byline:

Sergio Martinez Just Ruined What Would Have Been Manny Pacquiao’s Easy Ninth!

Manny “PACMAN” Pacquiao: Making A Serious Case As The Greatest Of All Time!

The Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao Confessions: Things You Might Not Have Heard Or Read Before!

The Truth Behind Manny Pacquiao’s Losses And Draws

Is Marquez A Common Denominator In The Pacquiao-Versus-Mayweather Discussion?

Pacquiao, Duran, And Some Serious Thoughts From A Very Faithful Follower Of The Sport (Episode 1)

In The Fullness Of The Mayweather Heart, The Mayweather Mouth Speaks

Written by Reylan Loberternos

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