Cebu's Pantino grabs gold in Malaysia net

CEBU, Philippines - The young but promising Cebuano netter Arthur Craig Pantino earned a gold and a silver in his debut on the international scene, while his comrade Christopher Encarnacion returned to Malaysia with a silver at the end of the Genting Selangor International Junior Tennis Open Championships.

Pantino of the University of San Carlos-South won gold in the doubles event along with Teoh Sze Sheng of host Selangor. They beat Naufal Siddek Kan and Izzat Shazurin Sul with uniform scores of 6-3, 6-3 in the final.

The nine-year-old Pantino, whose trip to Malaysia was supported by PHILTA’s Lito Villanueva,Thirsty, RJAC Construction, MAP Auto Shop and Atlas Metal Industries, missed a double gold after losing to Selangor’s Stefan Gigorov, 7-6 (9-11), 5-7 in the boys 10-under singles final that lasted two hours.

After enjoying a first round bye, Pantino came up with a 6-0, 6-0 whitewash of Liu-hiu Retalliek.

In the quartefinal, Pantino pulled a masterful 6-1,6-2 victory over his doubles partner Teoh Sze Sheng and then proceeded into the gold medal match after posting a 6-0, 6-1 triumph over Naufal Siddek Kan of Negere Simbalan.

With his impressive showing, the Bobby Soquino-mentored Pantino was wooed by the camp of Gigor to team up with each other in the succeeding three legs of the series, the next of which is the 27th Penang Open International Juniors Age-Group Tennis Championships.

Christopher Encarnacion, on the other hand, settled for silver in the boys 12-under doubles along with Amirul Asri Razak. They bowed to Talhah Rahizam and Moho Khairil Anas in the final, 6-3, 6-2. (THE FREEMAN)