James Yap and Girlfriend Michela Cazzola First Public Appearance

There were so many rumors regarding the new girlfriend of the 31-year-old PBA star player, James Yap. We even came up with an article stating his girlfriend's name as Mikaela or Michaela. Unfortunately, the leaked photo of the couple few weeks back didn't have a caption that bears his girlfriend's name.

Finally, James Yap formally introduced his italian girlfriend of over a year, Michela Cazzola, during their first public appearance at a party attended by local entertainment personalities on Saturday. James Yap was accompanied by Cazzola at the birthday celebration of talent manager Arnold Vegafria, who is also Yap's business agent. Although Yap had only started hinting at his romantic relationship in June through photos on Instagram, ABS-CBN News sources claimed that they learned that James and the Italian national have been a couple for more than a year now.

According to their report, Cazzola is a secretariat specialist at the Asian Development Bank in the Philippines. She is no stranger to the country, as her father also worked here for a time. Early this month, Cazzola met Yap's family when the basketball player's father celebrated his birthday.

Yap decided to open his relationship with Cazzola after a series of controversies involving him and his former wife, actress-host Kris Aquino, and their only child, James "Bimby" Yap, Jr. The famous TV host and Yap were officially married in civil rites in 2005, however, they separated in February last year when their marriage was declared void due to the infidelity of the basketball player.