Sydney Enriquez and Eric Tangub set out for another dominating campaign as they head the field slugging it out for top honors in various divisions in the PPS Alamada national age-group tennis tournament which got under way yesterday in Cotabato.
The 16-year-old Enriquez, from Salug, Zamboanga del Norte, looms as the player to beat in her age bracket and 18-and-under play, which she been lording in over in recent legs of the country’s longest, biggest talent-search presented by Dunlop.
But Tangub, from Tucuran, Zambo del Sur, will be hard-pressed to stamp his class against a tough set of rivals in the two top categories of the boys’ division of the Group 2 tournament of the circuit making a rare stop at the Alamada Tennis Club.
They include an in-form Reyman Saldivar, Herald Aton and Kristofer Espinosa in 16-U side with Saldivar, coming off a victory in Kabacan, and Aton also vying in the 18-U section along with Mel Facto in the four-day event serving as part of the Mindanao swing of the Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala circuit and sanctioned by the Unified Tennis Philippines made up of PPS-PEPP, Cebuana Lhuillier, Wilson, Toby’s, Dunlop, Slazenger and B-Meg.
“Mindanao has such a wide base of (tennis) talents and with the all-out support that we’ve been getting from various LGUs, we will continue to hold tournaments here in search of young but promising players,” said Palawan Pawnshop president/CEO Bobby Castro.
For details, call PPS-PEPP Sports Program Development director Bobby Mangunay at 0915-4046464.
Judy Ann Padilla and Angel Denopol, meanwhile, banner the girls’ 14-U cast that also drew Juliana Carvajal and Ayezza Dino with siblings Reyman and Armando Saldivar spearheading the boys’ side along with Espinosa and Josh Cabanting.
Fierce action is also expected in the 12-U side with Denopol and Rose Messiona seeking to arrange a title clash and Armando Saldivar topbilling the boys’ class that also features Yusuf Maldo, Alexavier Uy and Cabanting while Jairo Ramirez, also from Kabacan, guns for back-to-back 10-unisex title after scoring a romp in Kidapawan last week.