Saturday, March 10, 2007 Niño’s Sri Lanka trip out; Sisos to be featured on ESPN
THE expected busy summer of tennis superstar Bernardine Niño Siso will be cut to half as the national Boys 14 team will no longer push forth with its planned side trip to Sri Lanka.
Siso is slated to compete in the World Junior Tennis Championship in New Delhi, India on April 18-22 together with the other half of the RP team, Lorenzo Ferrer.
The duo was supposed to compete in the tournament in Sri Lanka after the New Delhi tiff, but a weeklong gap between the two competitions hampers their participation.
“The gap is too long and if they do decide to stay, then they would need additional budget for it,” said Philippine Tennis Association Regional head John Pages, who was informed yesterday by Philta administrator Chris Cuatro of the update.
Pages said that in the one-week gap, the players could either stay in India or go back to the Philippines before the Sri Lanka contest. Either way, it entails added expenses. This forced Cuarto to decide on skipping Sri Lanka.
After the boys contest in India, the distaff side will begin, wherein Siso’s younger sister, Sally Mae, will be joining in. Sally Mae, despite making it to the RP team, is a last-minute addition, as it was only last Wednesday, where she received confirmation that she would be supported by her longtime patron Jonathan Guardo.
After India, Sally Mae will be going to Australia to compete in the Arafura Games.
Because of the back to back bookings of the young tennis star, Pages said that they are now faced with a dilemma on the processing of the passport of Sally Mae.
“Naproblema na where Sally Mae’s passport should be processed first,” said Pages.
Meanwhile, the cancellation of one of Niño’s tournaments, all is not in vain for him as an ESPN executive is planning to feature the Siso brother-sister tandem in a show.
Anthony Suntay, ESPN Asia executive called up Pages to arrange for the said project.
“This is a very very good development for our young tennis players,” added Pages, who is another staunch supporter of the Siso brood. (MCB)
