JAZZELLE Madis and John David Velez hope to live up to the hype as they banner the field in the Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala Mlang regional age group tennis tournament which gets going tomorrow (Friday, Sept. 15) at the Mlang Tennis Club in Cotabato.
Madis gains the top seeding in the girls’ 16- and 18-and-under divisions with the local ace facing the likes of Minette Bentillo, Arnie Diaz and Jeanne Gornes in both categories of the Group 2 tournament presented by Slazenger.
Velez, on the other hand, looms as the player to beat in two sections of the boys’ side with the Davao find bracing for a duel with Cedric Pamplona, Joaquin Palo and Andrei Padao among others in the big 32-player 14-U field.
But Velez, a multi-winner in the country’s biggest age-grouper put up by Palawan Pawnshop, headed by president/CEO Bobby Castro, braces for a tough outing in the 16-U division which drew the likes of Bruce Hurtado, Reyman Saldivar, Christian Villarin, Herald Aton, Pamplona and Palo.
Hurtado and Villarin, meanwhile, headline the premier 18-U category of the event backed by the Unified Tennis Group, composed of Cebuana Lhuillier, PPS-PEPP, Wilson, Toby’s, BMeg, Citigreen, Babolat and Tru-Flex.
The other fancied players are Saldivar, Pamplona, Andrei Padao and Charles Jumawan in the boys’ 12-U side and Bentillo, Jillian Manangking, Sheboh Ripdos and Jasmen Kadalum in the girls’ 14-U section, while Tennielle Madis, Jose Cabanting, Raicy Bentillo and Shaun Globasa head the 10-unisex field.
Meanwhile, the country’s long-running circuit will hold its next stop in Pikit, Cotabato leg on Sept. 21-25. For details, call PPS-PEPP sports program development director Bobby Mangunay at 0915-4046464.