Tormis siblings start strong in Erne Jawad tablenetfest

CEBU, Philippines - The Tormis siblings Elona Dane and Dannel Jay both opened their title retention bids on a bright note in the 22nd Erne Jawad Tennis Cup at the Cebu City Sports Center yesterday.

Elona Dane Tormis, the defending women’s open champion, pulled off a lopsided 11-2,11-4, 11-2 win in her opening match against Kaye Jacaba. 

Jennifer Jacalan, Elona’s final opponent last year, also got off to a sizzling start, ovecoming a first set loss to defeat Meiko Magtahas in four sets, 9-11, 11-1, 12-10, 11-7 and move into the next round.

In the other women's matches, Candy Babalcon outsmarted the veteran Ellen Ramirez, 11-8, 11-7,11-6, Diana Oliverio subdued Kimberly Transporto, 8-11, 11-7,11-5,11-8, while Michelle Osorio overpowered her namesake, Michelle Agbon, 11-5,11-3,11-9.

Elona Dane’s brother Dannel kept his title defense in the boys 18 class in motion. After enjoying a first round bye, he bested Mark Penaranda, 11-4,11-13,11-4,11-6.

Just like Dannel, Jann Nayre also made the most from a first round bye to clobber Fausto Comaingking in four sets, 7-11,11-7,11-2,11-18.

The other players who joined Tormis and Nayre in the third round were Henz Lucero, Joseph Ceniza, BJ Cabrillo, Rom Rogelian, Joshua Tolentino, Francis Garganian and Francis Bendebel.

Meanwhile, University of Cebu (UC)-A will take on the visiting Bohol Table Tennis Club, while the University of San Jose-Recoletos battles the University of San Carlos in the inaugural elementary team event.

In the inaugural staging of the elementary team event, USJ-R topped bracket A with a 2-0 slate after beating UC-Team C and Tejero. They will face next USC, which topped bracket C after defeating Guadalupe. Bohol dumped UC-B in bracket C’s lone game to face UC’s Team A in the next round.— (FREEMAN)