HEARTS ON ICE Cast Speak Highly of Xian Lim's Ice Skating Efforts, Excited on Ashley Ortega's Lead Role

Spent a few hours with some of Sparkle's brightest stars who's part of the cast of the new show HEARTS ON ICE. This is the first of it's kind, you could say the launching project of Ashley Ortega as she now takes the lead as Ponggay in this new series. She also gets to be paired with premier actor Xian Lim who's going to be interesting to see in a story of love, hardships, hope and perseverance. Athletes would surely be connecting with their characters as it'll be showcasing a lot of the things that are happening behind the scenes. Aside from that, they want people to get inspired about how they triumph over life's obstacles since it is a very hard sport. 

Together with Ashley that afternoon was Skye Chua, Hannah Arguelles, Shuvee Etrata and Kim Perez (which unfortunately we didn't get to take a solo shot of because he was doing interviews). Skye actually is part of the Philippine national team, very skilled and equipped to do this stint on GMA and admitted to have had trouble doing acting, and her emotions which she usually do on ice came in handy. She used it to make sure she's also going to do good as Ponggay's rival. Hannah on the other hand will be Xian's little sister, and will be doing a lot of scenes with the Viva actor as they've got family issues to take care of too. Shuvee on the other hand will play one of Poggay's best friend and will give advice as it'll be hard to go through life without one. Kim will be on Xian's side and might provide help when his best friend would get in trouble in the show.

Xian Lim who is Ashley Ortega's partner in the show impressed not just his co-actors but even the professional skating athletes who's part of the show. They were so happy about his progress in the short amount of time he spent in training, so now he's super into the sport already. He took exams and has progressed and passed, which may mean he's going to be doing a lot of his own moves in the show.

Here's my part of the interview, hope you enjoy my questions as I did asking them!

Here's a little talk about their ice skating experience and how Ashley had to go back to training just for this show.

 

Hearts on Ice starts at 8:50PM weekdays on GMA, and replays a few hours after (11:30 or 11PM) on GTV. Make sure you catch the episodes to support not just Ashley and Xian, but the whole ensemble cast that's got veterans and new artists in the mix. Congratulations, I've heard it's doing good in the ratings still! I also have a few videos of their routines on our YouTube channel so just look for kumagcow on the app!

PH Ice Queen Sofia Frank Gets GOLD at 2022 Asian Open Figure Skating Tourney

There's no stopping Filipino Figure Skating champ Sofia Frank as she recently won the 2022 Asian Open Figure Skating Competition. The event was held at the Oasis Center in Jakarta, Indonesia. She is as of date the highest ranked ISU femme athlete in the country and has been a Junior World Figure Skating competitor twice.

Her feat was also recognized via Senate Resolution 360 which marks her impressive performance at the annual competition. This was filed by Senator Bong Revilla cognizant of her outstanding win amongst 8 other world class athletes and scored 50.19 in the short program and 93.78 during the Free Skate. This resulted in 143.97 points to top the Senior Women Category. She could possibly be our next GOLD hopeful in future Winter Olympics.

She was also lauded by Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva and marked her performance at the Colorado Spring Invitationals, the famed US International Figure Skating Classic and several other shows in the US and EU.

Sofia also started training at the age of 3 under Natasha Adler De Guzman and Quida Robins. During her teens, she was under Olympic coach Tammy Gambill. She had been doing Junior-Senior level of competitions in the US Figure Skating and International Selection pool which has made her gain more experience in the sport. Currently, she is training for the upcoming 2024 Winter Olympics which will be held in Paris, France in hopes to represent the Philippines in Figure Skating. She's in the Philippines this month to do "Carols On Ice" which is a fundraising gala for the Philippine Skating Union (PHSU) who manages both Figure Skating and Speed Skating sports in the country. This is being done in cooperation with SM Skating and they're doing "Journey to a Dream" as their theme this year. 

The show will be hosted by Bb. Pilipinas 1985 Ms. Joyce Burton-Titular. Guests include GMA artists Ashley Ortega, Skye Chua, Olympian Michael Martinez, Edrian Celestino, Isabella Gamez and Alexander Korovin, Skye Patenia, Sofia Guidote, Hayden Balucating, Felicity Eco, Veronica Eid, Sophie Hernandez, Kate Orrock, Krystle Siy and more skaters from the PH National Developmental Pool, Speed Skating and Hockey Teams. 

Sofia Frank will be performing with other Filipino skating athletes using music (mostly OPM) celebrating Christmas time in the Philippines. So make sure you be there for the event on December 21st, at the Mall of Asia Ice Skating Rink and remember, show starts 7PM!

Support the cause and our team in the dream of becoming Ice Skating champs this coming Olympics! Tickets are sold at https://ticket2me.net/e/36073 and it'll surely be a fun time with family if you watch it.

Best of luck Sofia!

SM LEI Opens Olympic Sized Ice Skating Rink at SM Mall of Asia

It looks like a lot like Christmas at SM Mall of Asia as they don't let down in more developments within the mall. They just opened a new Olympic sized Ice Skating Rink at the mall's third floor which has been in construction for such a long time now. It's about 1,800 square meters which would definitely be the literal coolest place to hang out and do different disciplines of ice sports.

It's got it's own digital score boards, player boxes, a hige lobby, a snack area, and it's own locker room and will be the home of the country's Ice Sports athletes. From Hockey, to Speed Skating, to Figure Skating and other events, it would now be easy to host 

COO of SM Lifestyle Entertainment Inc. Herman Medina Cue says "Mr. Henry Sy Sr. was a fan of this sport and fast forward today we are producing top notch ice athletes including ones that join the Winter Olympics. We are now producing world class facilities to be a venue of international tourneys, and a place to be with family. Athletes, welcome to your new home!"

This October will surely be fun so if you want to dash towards your goals, visit them today at the SM Mall of Asia, because they believe the Filipino is world class!

KUMAGCOW

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PH Ice Athletes Promise GOLD in Upcoming SEA Games

Spent the afternoon over at the Ice Skating Rink at the SM Megamall Fashion Hall for the promising partnership of SM Lifestyle and Entertainment Inc. and our athletes who are preparing to represent the country in the Southeast Asian Games. During the opening remarks, their executives said "We are delighted and honored to join Ice games in the SEA Games and we are gearing to winning Gold Medals for the country."

During the press conference, Kathryn Magno (for Short Track Speed Skating), Jules Alpe (for Figure Skating), LR Lancero, Julius Santiago, Miguel Relampagos, BJ Imperial, Jorell Crisostomo and Francis Gautier for Hockey wanted to rally for the Philippines. They fervently hope that it won't be just the organizations supporting them, but the whole country. 

Kathryn says "I am the first speed skater and I want to promote the sport even after the games. I hope a lot of people get to see the potential of Filipinos in this sport and hopefully win more medals for the country soon. I started as a figure skater but did it in 2008, to be motivated no matter what age you are is adamant to success. This is a nice place to train, we are able to do this with SM SKATING to perform in well in Southeast Asia." 

Francois adds "We have been preparing and practicing this for a long time. We are also planning to have a short bonding session a few weeks before the games. Some have been playing for a long time but we have new ones so we need to bond so we won't be awkward on ice. There are private companies like SM LEI and some government agencies that help. Our toughest opponent would probably be Division 1 Gold Medalists Thailand but that doesn't mean we can't play toe to toe with them or with any team in the world. We had the liberty of choosing athletes based on the role they play on ice. We practice countless hours and prepare to play for a longer time, we do this three times a week and practice even more with conditioning on our off days. You'll see us perform more in the SEA Games and hopefully win the Gold for the pride of our country. We are not just representing ourselves as individuals here, especially in the SEA Games."

Here's to hoping they bring more Gold medals for the country and hopefully their best performance against our fellow Southeast Asian countries. 

KUMAGCOW
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Philippines Hosts Asian Open Short Track Speed Skating Trophy

Hey sports fans! It looks like an awesome day for Philippine skating as our country hosts the first Asian Open Short Track Speed Skating Trophy. Eight countries like Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Thailand, Uzbekistan, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines will have their representatives pit against each other at the new Ice Skating Rink built at the 5th floor of SM Megamall's Fashion Hall. It was my first time to watch this live but I do see this in Olympic games when mostly European or American countries play it. The sport must have gained ground already and we're already got one Fil-Am girl joining in the name of Kathryn Victory Magno. She's done quite well today where she did her runs. She placed third in the Senior Ladies Division. These speed skating events are usually done in Japan and South Korea so the Asian Skating Union President Myong Hi-Chang was extremely happy to have it here.

The event officials also said they were impressed with the facilities in SM and hopefully we can have more Filipinos represent the country in the next Winter Olympics. This event will end tomorrow so if you want to see them during the games, go visit the 5th Floor of SM Megamall's Fashion Hall.

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