PSC holds age group netfest

MANILA, Philippines - Junior tennis gets a big boost as the Philippine Sports Commission stages the first PSC Metro Age Group tennis championship, a two-stage Group 1 tournaments firing off Dec. 6 at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.

Registration is ongoing with deadline set at 12 noon on Thursday and draw to be held at 2 p.m. at the Philta (Philippine Tennis Association) office. Fee is pegged at P300 with double entries allowed per player.

Events on tap are the 10-unisex, 12-under, 14-under, 16-under and 18-under for boys and girls. For details, contact Bobby Mangunay at 0915-4046464.

The tournament, spread over seven days, is sanctioned by Philta, which offers ranking points, including 200, 150 and 100 points to the top three winners in each category.

PSC commissioner Buddy Andrada, a former Philta chief, saw the need to provide the country’s leading and upcoming players a venue where they could further hone their talent and skills and initiated the staging of the two-leg series with support from PSC chair Richie Garcia.

The second tournament will be held Dec. 13-19 with deadline for listup on Dec. 9.

Veteran internationalist Jeson Patrombon and Casey Alcantara head the top players in the boys’ 18-under ranking while Anna Clarice Patrimonio and Thamita Nguyen pace the ladies side. Juan Cansino and Arjohn dela Cruz are top players in the 16-under boys group while Nguyen is also the top netter in the girls’ 16-under group together with Marinel Rudas.

Tipped to lead the 14-under division are Jurence Mendoza and Betto Orendain in the boys’ category and Maia Balce and Mae Resma in the distaff side while Eric Olivarez Jr. and Christian Lopez and Ericka Manduriao and Balce are the fancied players in the 12-under class.

The battle for the 10-unisex diadem will be a toss-up among Michael Eala, Joseph Tiamson, Manuel Balce III, Jericho Painagan, Arthur Pantino, Chloe Saraza and Frances Santiago.