Romualdez offers Philta victory to Yolanda survivors

MANILA, Philippines - Jerome Romualdez closed out his tennis campaign this season with a bang, winning the boys’ 16-and-under crown in the fourth PSC-Philta age group tennis tournament at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center recently.

The second-seeded Romualdez, 14, bucked a sore shoulder and outplayed No. 3 Emmanuel Vacalares Jr., fashioning out a 6-2, 6-1 victory then dedicated his feat to the victims of the recent super typhoon that struck Eastern Visayas last November.

“I’m so happy I was given the chance to play my best games even if I had just come from an injury the week before,” said Romualdez, referring to his sore shoulder that slowed down his game in the early going of the season-ending Group I tournament, which drew the country’s leading and rising junior players.

“I dedicate this win to all the Yolanda victims. As they continue through their struggles and rebuilding of their lives, I continue to pray for them and the people who have lost their lives, loved ones and their homes. But through it all, I know they will rebound and rise to the challenge.”

Aside from the PSC-Philta tilt, Romualdez also racked up victories and a number of runner-up finishes in the Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala regional age-group circuit which he hopes to match or even surpass when he resumes his campaign next year.