The chase for top honors and ranking points in the Mindanao swing of the PPS-PEPP national age group tennis tournaments shifts to Liloy this weekend with Thomas Gabuat and Ma. Judyann Padilla seeking to extend their romp in Zamboanga del Norte.
Unlike in last week’s stop at Labason where they claimed victories in the top two age-group divisions each, Gabuat and Padilla gear up for a tougher challenge this time with a slew of bidders eager to stop their run and at the same time earn a crack at various titles staked in the Group 2 tournament presented by Dunlop.
Mark Barrios and Pete Bandala, among others, will be out to foil Gabuat in the boys’ 18-and-under and 16-U play, respectively, while AJ Acabo launches her own double-title drive in the girls’ 16- and 18-U classes, which Padilla dominated last week.
Bandala, meanwhile, gains the top seeding in the 14-U category with Kevin Gallinero, Rex Tan and Rastan Baje also in the fold while Marlyn Mesiona braces for a big bounce back from Krisha Gom-Os in the girls’ 14-U side of the country’s longest-running junior circuit put up by Palawan Pawnshop president/CEO Bobby Castro.
The battle for 12-U titles is also a toss-up between Sherwin Gom-Os and Jared Sy in the boys’ division and Sherylle Gom-Os and Marian Sarsaba in the girls’ category of the event held under the auspices of the Unified Tennis Philippines and UTR (Universal Tennis Rating) which closes out the Zambo del Norte series that included the Sindangan and Dipolog stops.
Action moves to Lanao del Norte on May 1-3 for the Maranding leg while Oroquieta City in Misamis Oriental will stage the next stop on May 4-6. For details and registration, contact event organizer Bobby Mangunay at 0915-4046464