Philippine Showbiz Today Vol 12 No 24 | Page 22

22 Philippine Showbiz Today December October 22, 22 - 2017 November - January 7, 2017 7, 2018 1921 Far Eastern Games The law of averages finally caught up on the Philippines in basketball hostilities in the fifth staging of the Far Eastern Games in 1921 in Shanghai. China, playing host to the three-nation sports meet for the second time since the Games opened shop in Manila in 1913, ended a long, eight-year exercise in futility by exacting a 30-27 victory in the sport considered as a private domain of the Filipinos, who, until that year, succeeded in protecting their lily-white record. That reversal though would prove to be the first and only loss the Filipinos would suffer as they would continue running roughshod of the opposition the rest of the way until the triangular conclave would have folded up in 1934 to give way to the much bigger Asian Games. But what made the setback bitter was it came at a time when the team had gone a massive revamp that, except from old mainstays Jovito Gonzales and Aurelio Buenconsejo, saw outstanding players from the NCAA dominating the line up – prolific shooter Luis “Lou” Salvador, Vicente Avena, Augusto Bautista and Mariano Sangle – among others. Also beefing up the national five were Joaquin Inigo, Elpidio Jose,  Ped