Manny Pacquiao favorite sports icon of Filipino kids

MANILA, Philippines---Not only boxing enthusiasts love pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao but Filipino children also recognize him as their favorite sports icon, according to a recent study of Cartoon Network dubbed as “New Generations Philippines 2009.”

The study conducted in three major cities in the Philippines—Manila, Cebu, and Davao—showed that kids aged 7-14 years chose Pacquiao as their idol in sports with 14 percent of the votes. Los Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Bryant was the second choice with 11 percent while NBA superstar Michael Jordan and Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James shared third place with five percent each.

But in terms of gender, 19 percent of the boys ranked Bryant first on their list while Pacquiao came in second and James in third place, with 14 percent and 10 percent, respectively.

Pacquiao won the girls’ hearts, voting him as number one with 14 percent followed by Purefoods’ James Yap, Bryant, and Smart Gilas’ Chris Tiu, each with three percent vote.

In a survey question, where kids were asked to choose between two things, they preferred the National Basketball Association over the Philippine Basketball Association. Seventy-two percent of the respondents chose the NBA while only twenty-eight percent selected the PBA.

Aside from the kids’ interest in sports, the study also found that kids prefer eating over sleeping, talking over texting, studying Math over English, watching television over surfing the internet and real life friends over virtual friends.

Sixty-five percent of the respondents also expressed that having a high-paying job would be their number one goal in life, followed by being happy and being rich, forty-seven percent and forty-four percent, respectively.

Source: http://sports.inquirer.net/breakingnews/breakingnews/view/20091030-233117/Manny-Pacquiao-favorite-sports-icon-of-Filipino-kids