Friday, July 25, 2008 Guba gets slot in RP Davies Cup team By Henry C. Villalva
ANOTHER Negrense has put the province of Negros Occidental in the map of Philippine Sports as La Carlota City native Yannick Guba was named Tuesday as the fourth member of the RP Davies Cup team.
Guba, currently the country's No. 3 ranked men's tennis player, replaces Filipino-American Eric Taino who recently announced he was begging off from participation in this year's Davies Cup competition.
Guba, the second of three tennis siblings of Socrates and Nimfa Guba of La Carlota City, immediately joins the RP team's preparations for its forthcoming crucial Davies Cup relegation tie against Kazakhstan, which will send the losing team tumbling back to Group II next year.
The former Palarong Pambansa gold medalist and scholar of the Negros Occidental Cultural and Sports Foundation (NOCSF), thus becomes the first Negrense to be named as member of the prestigious RP Davies Cup squad.
"I'm very happy and honored to be named to the country's Davies Cup team. I've been waiting for this and it is really a big challenge for me," the De La Salle University Mass Communications graduate and former UAAP most valuable player told Sun.Star Bacolod in a telephone interview Thursday.
"I'm happy for Yannick and I'm proud as a Negrense because I know my son has always been proud to represent Negros Occidental," Guba's father, Socrates, said in a text message Thursday night.
Guba joins Filipino-American Cecil Mamiit, Johnny Arcilla, and age-group batchmate Patrick John Tierro in the RP Davies Cup lineup. They are tasked to keep the country's chances of staying in the elite Asia-Oceania Zone Group I Davies Cup category alive.
Guba will have a chance to showcase his talent before his Negrense fans when he sees action in next month's Bais Open Tennis Championship.
His younger sister, Martina, is currently one of the top female age-groupers in the country while his elder brother Johan, who likewise graduated as a varsity tennis scholar at the DLSU-College of St. Benilde, is now working as a pro tennis coach abroad.
