JOEWYN Pascua and Exequiel Jucutan hope to get some push from the hometown crowd as they slug it out with the regular campaigners in the Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala Urdaneta leg tennis tournament which got under way yesterday (Friday) at the Urdaneta Tennis Club in Pangasinan.
Pascua and Jucutan actually primed up for the Group 2 tournament with big reversals in the last PPS-PEPP leg in La Union last week with the former clinching the boys’ 12-and-under crown against top seed JT Bernardo and the latter frustrating No. 1 Andre Jarata for the 14-U title.
But they will be up against a host of talented rivals also out to gain ranking points in the five-day event sponsored by Palawan Pawnshop headed by president/CEO Bobby Castro and presented by Slazenger, including Justin Erpelo, Prince Lim and Thomas Gabuat (12-U) while Jarata is raring to rebound together with Eric Bajet in the 14-U side.
Raymond Gabuco, on the other hand, eyes a sweep of the boys’ 16- and 18-U plums while fellow Pangasinense Anna Demyer is also fancied in the two premier divisions in the girls’ side of the tournament serving as the third of the four-stage Northern swing of the country’s longest talent-search supported by the Unified Tennis Philippines, including PPS-PEPP, Cebuana Lhuillier, Wilson, Toby’s, Dunlop, Slazenger and B-Meg.
The TLH Sports and Wellness Center in Valenzuela, Bulacan will host the next tournament on Nov. 30-Dec 4, according to PPS-PEPP Sports Program Development director and organizer Bobby Mangunay. For details, call 0915-4046464.
Meanwhile, rising star Marielle Jarata, who has dominated the stops in Baguio and La Union, sets out for another twinkill as she banners the cast in the 10-unisex and girls’ 12-U. The 10-year-old find will also try to duplicate her rare three-title feat in Agoo as she competes in the 14-U division as one of the unranked players.
Other local players tipped to contend are Joshua Molina in the boys’ 18-U and Lanica Molina in the girls’ 16-U while Baguio’s Angelyn Atos and Sharry Caluza gain the top seeding in the girls’ 14- and 16-U categories, respectively.