Thursday, December 06, 2007 4 strong RP team seeks 3rd overall title in Malaysia
THERE are only four Filipinos left in the third leg of the Malaysian Tennis Circuit—the Perlid International Age Group Championships in Perlis City—but the lean delegation is still hoping to snag the overall title in this leg.
The Filipinos, led by the renowned Siso siblings Sally Mae and Bernardine Niño with Crissiane Kintanar and Marian Capadoica of Antique, all booked slots for the final round of their respective divisions.
“We keep telling the kids to do their best because we can still win the overall title,” said the Sisos’ mother Sally.
In the past two legs in Selangor and Penang, the RP team won the overall title behind the individual exploits of the four and that of Jacob Lagman, Vince Marc Tabotabo and another netter from Davao.
The three had gone home after the second leg.
Yesterday, the troop won their respective singles competition to advance to the final round.
Niño of University of San Carlos, defeated Malaysia-based Iraqui Tan EE Zhou, 6-1, 6-3, to arrange a finals showdown in the Boys 14 division with Sayed Agil of Malaysia. Niño has been the top player in this division since the first leg and had kept his pace steady until now.
He lost in the doubles competition after he and Malaysian partner Pearljit Singh bombed out.
Niño’s baby sister Sally Mae, who is only seeded sixth in this competition, continues to clobber higher-ranked players.
Yesterday, she booted out No. 2 player, Korean Kim Kyung, 6-0, 6-1. She will move to the final round of the Girls 14 division against top seed Theviya Selvarajoo, who is also her doubles partner.
This will be the third time the two face off in the finals and whether Sally Mae continues her dominance over Selvarajoo remains to be seen today when they take on each other in the final round. Selvarajoo will no longer compete in the last leg, which will be in Langkawi.
Doubles
Kintanar, on the other hand, defeated Malaysian Deli Zavernne, 6-1, 6-4, and will face Korean Kim Dae in today’s final round of the Girls 10 division.
Capadocia won over a Korean, 6-1, 6-4 in the semis and will be seeing action in the final round against another Korean in the Girls 12 class.
While Niño bombed out in the doubles contest, the girls remain in contention for their respective doubles titles. Sally Mae and Selvarajoo moved to the semis of the doubles contest, as well as Capadocia and Kintanar with their respective foreign partners.
Should they win, the Filipinos will keep the overall title going into the Langkawi leg tomorrow. (MCB)
