JOLO Basa and Paula Uy hope to live up to their hype as top picks in the premier division as action in the Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala Bicol Open regional age-group tennis tournament got going yesterday (Monday) at the University of Saint Anthony Tennis Club in Iriga City.
Basa topbills the 32-player field in the boys’ 18-and-under play while Uy looms as the player to beat in the girls’ 16- and 18-U play that drew the likes of Trisha Lagatuz, Patricia Corporal, Glydel Guevarra, Katrina Salvadora, Ianne Contreras and Emely Mendez.
Also on tap is the Open division, which features the singles and doubles categories from the 30-34, 35-39, 40-44, 45-49, 50-54, 55-59, 60-64, 65-70 age-groups, making it one of the biggest in terms of participation and scope. For details, call PPS Sports Program Development director and event organizer Bobby Mangunay at 0915-4046464.
“We’re happy to be part of this long-running event which features not only the youth but also those from various age-groups competing in fun but competitive tournament,” said Palawan Pawnshop president/CEO Bobby Castro.
Jan Trillanes, Raphael Liangco, Osward Hernandez and Jomar Pante, on the other hand, banner the 32-player cast in the boys’ 16-U side with Liangco and Pante leading the 14-U roster that includes Mark Egipto and Ranier Lagatuz.
Keen competition is also seen in the rest of the categories of the Group 2 tournament sponsored by Palawan Pawnshop and backed by Asiatraders Corp. that features talents from Naga, Tigaon, Goa, Sorsogon and Polangui, among others.
Caloy Dindo, Chester Wong, Nathan Cortez and CJ de Castro lead the boys’ 12-U roster with Guevarra, Carla Andrada, Carol Plaxides and Abby de Castro headlining the girls’ cast in the week-long event sanctioned by the Unified Tennis Philippines, made up of PPS-PEPP, Cebuana Lhuillier, Wilson, Toby’s, Dunlop, Slazenger and B-Meg.
Sabion Sabio, Keyin Oliva, Marcel Correa and Dwane Nojara, meanwhile, are tipped to dispute the 10-unisex crown in the event presented by Slazenger with Dunlop as the official ball.