Fil-Estate Sports Foundation maker of tennis champs

Fil-Estate Sports Foundation chairman Bob Sobrepeña congratulated Southwoods Tennis director coach Manny Tecson for developing the program where No. 7 world ranked and World Super Juniors champion Ryoko Fuda of Japan had her beginnings.

Tecson, former Philippine Davis Cup captain who piloted the RP team to the World Level Competitions against three-time champions Sweden, was director for coaching in Japan for five years. He also travelled the ATP, Grand Slams and ITF world circuits.

Fuda, who was coached by Tecson for several years in Japan, came to Southwoods a few years back to train and practice with the Academy, Sobrepeña said.

But besides Japanese players, recently the Tennis Academy accepted and trained Filipino players based in the United States and Saudi Arabia.

Two of the Fil-Am players that trained with the Academy last year are seeded in the US rankings for the 10 and 12 under age categories.

"The programs in the academy established by coach Manny are at par with the academies abroad. We have received inquiries from Malaysia and Thailand about the programs, training and procedures on how to enroll with us," said Sobrepeña.

One of the Academy scholars who made big strides is Joseph Victorino, winner of the PCA and Philta Men’s Open which catapulted him to RP’s No. 1 at 19 years of age. He also won his first Davis Cup singles match against Kazakhstan, which gave the Philippines the first important point in the tie.

The academy’s players on the rise are Michael Basco (15), Lawrence Magaway (16) and Miguel Narvaez (15) who are winning national titles in higher age brackets.

The Tennis Academy is open to all promising athletes.

Inquiries: VP for Operations Len Gregorio (tel. 6382249).