Thursday, November 23, 2006 Rains drench Selangor courts on opening day
HEAVY downpour spoiled the opening day of the Selangor International Junior Open Tennis Championship 2006, yesterday at the Petaling Jaya Sports Complex in Selangor, Malaysia.
Because of this, afternoon games were halted as the huge field of young netters scampered to look for shelter.
"Perte gyud kakusog sa uwan ngari (It’s raining cats and dogs)," tennis mentor Fritz Tabura said.
Tabura is accompanying Tuburan's Vince Mark Tabotabo, who was one of the rains' casualty yesterday.
Tabotabo, who is supported by Vice Governor Greg Sanchez, was in his best form and was clearly dominating his game against Kuala Lumpur's Cornel Staten when the match was put on hold because the torrential rains made the court unplayable.
Tabotabo had taken over the first set, 6-0, and was leading 2-0 into the second set when the game was stopped.
Momentum
The rains must have snapped the momentum as two hours later, Staten managed to snag a game to earn his lone point of the game. But he however is not match to Tabotabo, of Tuburan Elementary School, who completely took control of the game until the end.
Tabotabo is seeded 8th in the competition. His second round foe was still not determined as of press time yesterday.
Meanwhile, another Cebuano, Sally Mae Siso, gained automatic entry to the second round of the Girls12 Under class after enjoying a bye in the first round.
The top player in the division, Sally Mae of University of San Carlos, will be facing Mohad Yasip Hyda Yazmin in today's second round. Yazmin defeated Selangor's Warrier Priya Allison in their first round match-up.
Sally Mae, supported by Osaka Iridology and USC, is competing in the Malaysia Tennis circuit for the third straight year.
Four legs
The other player advancing to the next round is Girls 14 bet Linda Marie Santos, who won in her first round assignment.
The Selangor tournament is the first of the four legs in the 21-day tournament. In the coming weeks, the junior netters will be jumping from one city to another to take part in the competition that is being presented by Milo.
The other legs will be held in Penang, Perlis and Langkawi for the final stage.
The other Filipinos seeing action in the competition are Jurence Mendoza (10under), Dheo Talatayod (12Boys) and Kim Ivor Saraza (14boys). The three, including Siso and Santos had gained an all expense paid trip to the Malaysia competition after winning the national tryouts set by Milo. (MCB)
