Chris Tiu

Early life

Chris Tiu is the second eldest of five children of Jerry and Lianne Tiu. He has two brothers, Christian and Charles Tiu, and two sisters. He took his elementary and high school education at Xavier School in San Juan City, Philippines, and his collegiate education at Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City, Philippines, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in management engineering and a minor in Chinese studies. He was the Sangguniang Kabataan Chairman of Barangay Urdaneta in Makati City.

Amateur career

He played juniors basketball for the Xavier School Golden Stallions, where he was part of the "three-peat" Metro Manila Tiong Lian Basketball Association Champion team from 2001 to 2003. His teammates in Xavier included Joseph Yeo and TY Tang.

College career

Tiu played for the Ateneo Blue Eagles for his collegiate basketball career. He and his teammates managed to enter the Finals once on the UAAP first was in 2003 where they failed to defend their title against the FEU Tamaraws. In 2006, they lost to the UST Growling Tigers in three games. In 2008, they managed to break their six years championship drought against their archrival the DLSU Green Archers which was led by JVee Casio and Rico Maierhofer at that time in two games. He was also a 2x UAAP Mythical Team Member from 2007 to 2008. His teammates in Ateneo included JC Intal, Macky Escalona, Doug Kramer, Ford Arao, Rabeh Al-Hussaini, Nonoy Baclao, Jai Reyes, and Eric Salamat. His coach in college was Norman Black.

In 2008, Tiu was named Favorite Athlete in the first Nickelodeon Philippines Kids' Choice Awards held at Aliw Theater, Pasay City.

PBA career

On August 3, 2012 he declared for the 2012 PBA Rookie Draft after years of focusing to the Smart Gilas national team. The draft took place on August 19 at Robinson's Midtown Mall. He was selected 7th overall by the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters during the 1st round.

International career

After his UAAP career, he went to play for the national team as the team captain of the newly formed Smart Gilas Pilipinas national team from 2008 to 2012. His teammates at that time were JVee Casio, Marcus Douthit, Japeth Aguilar, Chris Lutz, Marcio Lassiter and Mark Barroca. They were under Coach Rajko Toroman at that time.

2011 SEA Games

He was the team captain of the Sinag Pilipinas team that was sent to the 2011 Southeast Asian Games that was held in Indonesia, where they captured the gold medal against Thailand. His teammates included Ateneo Blue Eagles Kiefer Ravena, Nico Salva, Emman Monfort, Greg Slaughter and Justin Chua together with Jeric Fortuna and Jeric Teng of the UST Growling Tigers, Bobby Ray Parks of the NU Bulldogs, RR Garcia of the FEU Tamaraws, Garvo Lanete, Dave Marcelo and Jake Pascual of the San Beda Red Lions they were also joined by two Filipino-Americans Cliff Hodge and Chris Ellis. They were under the mentorship of Coach Norman Black and Coach Glenn Capacio.

PBA career statistics

Correct as of September 16, 2016

Personal life

In 2009, after Typhoon Ondoy, he met and interviewed Keanu Richal Karami for a campaign titled, "Ako Mismo." Karami raised 10,000 pesos for the victims of the typhoon. Tiu married investment banker Clarisse Ong on September 7, 2013 at a ceremony in Vancouver, after twelve years of dating. In May 2016, after winning the 2016 PBA Commissioner's Cup with the Elasto Painters, Tiu announced through an Instagram post that he and Ong were expecting their first child. Their daughter, Amanda Claire Tiu, was born on June 5, 2016, and was baptized in the Catholic faith.

Awards and nominations

2013 PBA All Rookie Team (won)

2013 ASEAN Youth Day Award (won)

2013 The Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) Award (won)

2015 MITv Gawad Kamalayan "Natatanging Informative Program Host" (won)

2015 USTv Students' Choice Awards - Sports Personality (won)