The country’s top table netters, headed by siblings Kheith Rhynne and Khevine Khieth Cruz, will vie for pride and honor in the 10th Flexible Cup International Table Tennis Championships slated January 27 and 29 at the Robinsons Novaliches.
Kheith Rhynne, currently the Philippines’ no.1-ranked female player at 16, teams up with younger brother and multi-titled junior campaigner Khevine for Team Joola as they battle it out against top local and foreign squads in the three-day event organized by the Table Tennis Association for National Development.
“Expect high-caliber table tennis action as our homegrown players trade skills with their foreign rivals. This is our own little way to help our young players get the right avenue to develop their talents. Hats off also to our sponsors, led by Flexible Packaging product for helping us in our quest to strengthen table tennis in the grassroots level,” said organizing head Philip Uy.
Events to be played are team open, men’s single open, women’s single open, men’s single veteran 45-above, and men’s executive.
Kheith Rhynne is currently the face of local table tennis, dominating tournaments one after the other and becoming the youngest Pinay to play for the Philippine Team in the Southeast Asian Games in Manila in 2019, while his younger brother bagged a silver medal in the ITTF World Youth Contender ( U-11) in Bangkok, Thailand in September, 2022.
“As part of its objective to assist in the development of table tennis in the country, TATAND hopes to develop and support more athletes like Kheith and Khevine,” sad Uy, also an active competitor in the Executive Class.
Foreign teams are the Chennai Lions of India, Gold Medal of Malaysia, Sunsports (Red) of Singapore, Sunsports (Blue) of Singapore, Xiom of Indonesia and PRG Bali TTC onf Indonesia.
Aside from Joola, the Philippines will be represented by Golden Star, UST- 1, Phil. Army-Tough Dog, ADMU – 1, ADMU-2, Ateneo, All Star Legend, ALTTEC, Bulakenyong Pingpongeros, DLSU, EC Jack, Semicon, Triple Charles, Toto Pol Fish Broker-Chawi Fishing, Trudel-Baptist Student Center, ILOILO; UP–Diliman, UST-2, UST-3, UST-JR, UST-Sens Mieux, UST–Women and USTTC – CSB.