Sunday, December 02, 2007 Sisos bag four titles in Malaysia tennis
THE Siso siblings never fail to bring good news to a troubled nation.
Yesterday, the celebrated Siso’s collared two gold medals after winning their respective singles and doubles matches in the Penang Open International Age Group Tennis Championships at the Universiti Sains Malaysia tennis courts in Penang, Malaysia.
Unlike the last leg, where the Filipinos won in all the age groups, this week, only the Sisos and Vince Marc Tabotabo won titles, while the rest bombed out of the title hunt.
The 14-year-old Bernardine Niño won the singles event after surviving his gritty doubles partner Pearljit Singh, 6-1, 6-4, in the Boys 14-Under division crown.
After sailing through the first set, Niño admitted he had quite a scare in the second set.
“I thought I will lose the second set because it became a tight game, Pearljit was able to keep a steady pace. He is a strong contender because he is the top player in Malaysia,” Niño told Sun.Star. Singh, however, is only seeded second to Niño in this competition.
Singh fought Niño point per point and was able to push Niño against the wall. The two figured in several deadlocks until they were tied with four games each.
“I had to do something and was able take the next two games to win,” Niño said.
Later, Niño and Singh teamed up to claim the doubles title winning against Hoo Seng Cheh and Kenneth Tan Wei Shen, 6-4, 6-3.
This is the second straight time Niño defeated Singh for the singles title and the second time the duo won the doubles competition. The won the title last week in Selangor, for the first leg of the four-part Malaysian tennis circuit.
Sally Mae, on the other hand, also mirrored her Selangor exploit and trounced her doubles partner and top-seeded player Theiviya Selvajaroo, 6-0, 6-0. They later defeated Yeoh Sue Lyn Karon and Tia Jia Min, 6-0, 6-1 for the doubles title.
The siblings of University of San Carlos South Campus, are gunning for a sweep in Malaysia most especially Niño, who is on the last year in the annual Malaysian competition.
The event is only for players in the 10, 12 and 14 age brackets.
Marian Capadocia, on the other hand, the other Filipino in the competition, lost in her finals in the Girls 12 after bowing to Lee Woo Kyung, 1-6, 4-6.
The Filipino troop, minus Tabotabo and Jacob Lagman, will once more see action today in Penang for the third leg of the competition.
Tabotabo and Lagman have gone home to attend to their studies. Tabotabo needs to come home to prepare for a competition in the US in the coming days. (MCB)
