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Friday, March 29, 2024

Noelle assured of elite ranking

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SOFT netter Noelle Conchita Zoleta-Manalac is assured of an elite ranking in the next three-year period starting with the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games in Indonesia—after back-to-back bronze medal performances in the major international soft tennis arena.

Zoleta-Manalac fashioned out a hard-fought 4-1 victory over  Wang Yufei of China to capture the bronze medal in the women’s singles division of the recent 8th Asian Soft Tennis Championships in chilly Chiba, Japan.

The solid baseline game of Zoleta-Manalac also propelled her past Pemika Cunaviriyasiri of Thailand, 4-0, to bag a similar podium finish during the 2015 World Cup Soft Tennis competitions in New Delhi, India.

“Soft tennis has a very different ranking system practically based on a 4-year performance record which makes it really difficult to crack except, of course, for powerhouse countries Japan, Korea. Chinese Taipei and China,” explained Philippine Soft Tennis Association president Col. Jeff Tamayo.

Tamayo said all four medal winners in the previous World Cup, Asian Championships and Asian Games tournaments are assured of top seedings and low-ranked opponents en route to the podium in the next international competitions.

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Despite her No. 5-8 finish during the 2014 Incheon Asian Games, Zoleta-Manalac is guaranteed of another quarterfinal slot in the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games edition due to her breakthrough third-place finish in the recent Asian Championships.

With her inspiring victory over Wang Yufei, Zoleta-Manalac will surely be given light opponents in the group round-robin preliminaries similar to her anticipated 2018 Jakarta Asian Games podium rival Chen Hui of China, the former Asian Games bronze medal winner.

“Finally, I was able to break the 3-year jinx against the tall Chinese girls,” smiled the pint-sized Zoleta-Manalac, who lost all 9 matches starting in 2014. “Now I have a real and solid chance to win a medal in the Asian Games.”

Zoleta-Manalac also led the RP women’s team to an upset 3-0 victory over China in the same recent Chiba Asian Championships to capture an additional bronze medal together with NCAA teammates Princess Catindig, Guia Arzaga, Alyanna Viloria, Anna Saguiped and Denden Peralta.

Tamayo added the elite Filipina athlete will be given the same priviledge in the 2019 China World Cup, the 2019 Manila SEA Games and the 2020 Japan World Masters Soft Tennis championships in conjunction with the Tokyo Summer Olympics.

“Recognition from the Philippine Olympic Committee and government support from the Philippine Sports Commission will play vital roles for Bien to win a medal in the Jakarta Asian Games,” Tamayo concluded. 

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