NAGKAKAISA ang Philippine tennis para sa 30th Southeast Asian Games.
Naharap sa leadership crisis, sisikapin ng sport na ibaon sa limot ang gold-less campaign sa 2017 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games, kung saan winalis ng Thailand ang limang gold medals na nakataya.
“Seeing Treat (Huey) and Ruben (Gonzales) playing for the Philippines is a very good sign. And hopefully, the Filipino tennis community will really try to support the team this coming SEA Games,” wika ni national team coach Chris Cuarto.
Pangungunahan nina Fil-Ams Huey at Gonzales ang kampanya ng Filipinas, kasama sina Casey Alcantara, Jeson Patrombon, AJ Lim, Marian Capadocia, Khim Iglupas, Denise Dy and Shaira Rivera at Clarice Patrimonio.
“The training is still on-going. Most of the players now are trying to get some time off kasi katatapos lang PCA Open. Most of our local players and ‘yung mga player natin abroad still on-going ‘yung tournaments nila. Sina Treat and Ruben are in the US, while Alcantara just came back from Qatar and he’s leaving again for Kuwait this coming week for the Challenger 25 Thousands,” ani Cuarto.
“They’re still joining more tournaments and depending on their results, siguro the latest (they’ll be back) is third week. So everyone will be converging here in Manila for the SEA Games,” dagdag pa niya.
Sinabi naman ni Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Chairman William ‘Butch’ Ramirez na, “The PSC (Philippine Sports Commission) has long been wishing for peaceful solutions to NSA squabbles, although as a government agency, it does not have a say on these situations.”
“But we are happy with this recent development, especially with the SEA Games just around the corner,” dagdag ni Ramirez.
Ang tennis competitions ay nakatakda sa Dec. 1-7 sa Rizal Memorial Sports Complex, kung saan sisikapin ng Thailand na maduplika ang kanilang dominasyon sa sport, dalawang taon na ang nakalilipas, kung saan ang powerhouse cast ay kinabibilangan nina Tamarine Tanasugarn, Luksika Kumkhum, Peangtarn Plipuech, twins Sanchai at Sonchat Ratiwatana at Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul.
“The countries vying for the SEA Games are quite tough in tennis and alam naman natin for the past years, medyo malakas talaga ang Thailand and Indonesia. And there’s also Vietnam. I heard that Laos and Cambodia will be having tennis players from Europe, [particularly] from France. So, it will be a tough field for the Philippines,” pahayag ni Cuarto, na umaasang mapuputol ang dominasyon ng Thai sa men’s doubles at mixed doubles.
“Mabigat, but as I have said before, we’re really vying for good results in doubles especially if we have Treat, Ruben, and Niño for doubles and for mixed. Kasi Denis Dy also is flying out from the US to join the team. ‘Yung dalawang event na ‘yun hopefully we do good,” aniya.
“‘Yung sa singles naman, free for all ‘yan. We haven’t decided yet kung sino ang magiging partner ng mga player kasi that can be decided up until the captain’s meeting (Nov. 30). We don’t want to pre-empt anything yet, but we still have to talk to the players as well,” dagdag pa niya.
Noong huling pagkakataon na naging host ang Filipinas sa Games ay nagwagi ang mga Pinoy ng tatlong gold medals, na kaloob ni Cecile Mamiit (singles, doubles at mixed).
“Malaking factor ang hometown crowd. Hopefully, the Filipino tennis community will really try to support the team this coming SEA Games.”
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