Pasintabi, Kathniel fans. Pagdating sa breakups, madami-dami rin ang yumanig sa Philippine sports

CELEBRITIES going out on dates and having relationships never fail to capture the public’s imagination. Movie stars, top government officials, the super rich and, yes, sports heroes and personalities doing their thing together, are the kind of stuff fans and ordinary folk never tire of hearing about or wanting to know more about.

They want to know what’s going on in these celebrities’ lives, what their interests are, the food they eat, clothes they wear, movies they watch, cars they own, and houses they live in.

Vicariously, they’re into anything celebrity.

But many times, these celebrity couples do not in fact live happily ever after. All right, Susan-FPJ, Pacquiao-Jinky, Goma-Lucy are some exceptions.

In sports, many relationships among star athletes begin as though they would last forever. But years, or sometimes just months later, these seemingly happy partnerships begin to strain, snap, then crumble, and fans wonder: What in the world happened?

Here are some of the biggest, controversial breakups in Philippine sports.

James Yap & Kris Aquino

Photo by: SPIN.ph

Well, from the beginning, no one thought it would survive the test of time. James Yap was a PBA star, had good looks and a nice physique, plus a wondrous shooting arm. He was chased by countless women. Kris Aquino, for her part, had several boyfriends by the time they met. But they married and the union produced Bimby, now 16 years old. Several years into their marriage, both called it quits. Their separation was messy and needed lawyers from both sides to come and put some order in. Since then, they have tried to be civil and both are in other relationships at the moment.

Alyssa Valdez & Kiefer Ravena

Photo by: SPIN.ph

This one looked as if it was a match made in heaven. Both Alyssa and Kiefer were college superstars from the same school, Ateneo—she in volleyball, he in basketball. The two seamlessly made their way into the pros. Lovey-dovey, the public adored them. But, it did not last for reasons only they really know.

Aby Marano & Robert Bolick

Photo by: SPIN.ph

Like Alyssa and Kiefer, this one was also a union between campus stars— Aby in volleyball in La Salle; Babes in La Salle and later in San Beda. The crowd loved the two. They became a staple of social media. It was a long relationship, too, running from their college days to their professional careers. They watched each other play, in college and in the pros— Aby in the PVL and Bolick in the PBA. Then the relationship came undone, sadly.

Scottie Thompson & Pau Fajardo

Photo by: Scottie Thompson’s IG

This one looked promising. They got engaged in 2021, and people expected a wedding to follow. She was his college girlfriend at Perpetual where she watched him play in the NCAA, and then followed him to do his thing with Ginebra. Pau was always in the sidelines, cheering. Her presence did not escape the fans, and she built her own following from there. Months after their engagement, the union broke, stunning fans.

Ricci Rivero & Andrea Brillantes

Andrea apparently was simply a basketball fan. She watched a University of the Philippines game and got introduced to Ricci, then a star for the Maroons. So smitten was Ricci by Andrea’s movie-star looks that he publicly asked her to be his girlfriend. Well, Andrea, 21, was actually a movie star, an award-winning one even, and the two became one, as they say, in April 2022. It didn’t last very long and there followed a bit of social-media mess after.

June Mar Fajardo & Aerieal Patnongon

June Mar’s love life is hardly feast for tabloid chatter. He’s the kind of guy who does his moves on the hardcourt, with seven MVPs to show for it. Patnongon, on the other hand, is a former Lady Eagle, not in the same level as Alyssa because very few match up to the Ateneo star. But Aerieal always cheered for June Mar, which must’ve been a full-time thing because there was so much to cheer the San Miguel icon for. They broke up in 2019.

Tots Carlos & Ced Domingo

Photo by: PVL

Long before they were teammates at Creamline, the country’s most powerful volleyball team, seven championships at last count, Tots Carlos and Ced Domingo were already an item. Their romance, also chronicled on social media, was eagerly followed, even while they were college stars playing in the UAAP. At one point it all ended, although they stayed as teammates until Ced left to play as an import in Thailand last year.

Jema Galanza & Deanna Wong

Photo by: Dante Peralta

Fans were thrilled no end when the duo got together. And many followed them even as they played fiercely against each other, being players from rival teams. At one point, they were the most followed item on social media, leaving more high-profile sports personalities in the shade. To this day, fans react to a sign of the faintest interraction between the two, even if they have since gone their separate ways.

Mela Tunay & Kim Fajardo

Mela and Kim shared a seven-year relationship before they parted ways during the pandemic, saddening their countless fans. The two used to travel often and did charity work together. The breakup wasn’t as smooth as the two volleyball players’ moves on the court, but all wounds heal in the end.

Jen Nierva & Yawi

The worlds of volleyball and Mobile Legends once meshed to root for this popular couple. The two made videos trend on Tiktok lots of times before they called it quits early in 2023.