Tuesday, November 04, 2008 Motel earns but turns down RP team slot
CEBU’s celebrated table tennis player, Michael Motel snagged a slot to the national training pool following his impressive performance in the first Philippine National Table Tennis championship at the Phil–sports Arena last week.
However, Motel, turned down the offer and decided to finish school as joining the RP team meant leaving home and relocating to Manila.
Motel had to hurdle past several obstacles including national team member and RP No.1 player Rodel Valle of the Philippine National Police before landing the spot to the RP team.
“It was a nail biter. In the deciding fifth set, Valle was leading 8-3, until Michael turned the game around winning six points to one to tie the match at 9-all. At match point, they had four deuces and Valle had three advantages but Michael still won that match,” said proud coach Jiji Jawad-Honoridez, who added that the match literally stopped all the games at the Philsports arena as everyone watched the action.
He is now seeded fifth in the national ranking of the men’s division. Last year, he was third in the ranking for the juniors division.
The ranking system, much like that of tennis, was introduced for the first time in table tennis in this competition.
Meanwhile, also pulling off an impressive finish in the competition was Elonna Dane Tormis, who ranked third in the Girls 17 division after the event.
Another remarkable finish were that of 12-year-olds Dannel Jay Tormis and Jean Philip Honoridez of Colegio del Sto. Niño, who wowed the crowd after advancing to the Top 16 in the Boys 17 division.
The two are now the youngest ranked players in this age division.
In the hard bat competition, Roberto Bas, Romeo Cuico and Jay Logronio dominated the team event winning over the Philippine Army.
Bas later went on to claim the silver in the singles division after losing to Richard Gonzales. (MCB)
