Huge field vies in Palawan-Lucena tennis

MANILA, Philippines - Close to 250 entries gear up for a fierce duel in various divisions when the 10th leg of the Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala regional age group presented by Technifibre is fired off tomorrow at the Ouans Resort Tennis Courts in Lucena, Quezon.

To accommodate the big number of participants, the organizers have tapped the Enverga Tennis Courts as the other venue of the four-day Group 3 tournament, which drew entries from San Pablo, Pitugo, Padre Burgos, Lucban, Catanuan, Perez, Gumaca, Atimonan, Luisiana, Quezon, Cavite, Los Baños, Lucena and Manila.

“We are humbled to see this big number of participants from various provinces raring to play and vie for honors and ranking points,” said Palawan Pawnshop COO Bobby Castro. “This only inspires us to put up more tournaments in the countryside and provide these young players a venue to hone their skills especially this summer.”

Athan Arejola, JT Bernardo, Denis Bernardo, Gabby Zoleta, Magnus Gnilo, Caleb Gnilo, Lance Gnilo and Jose Martin Dizon head the Big City bets bracing for a battle royale against the local players, led by siblings Angeline, Angelica and Kim Alcala, Julia Ignacio, Jibril Perpetual, and Reisha and Arriane Nillasca.

“Palawan Pawnshop has been Philta’s long-time partner in developing the sport and discovering future member of the national pool and we encourage these young players to take this opportunity to further hone their skills and talents by playing in the circuit,” said Philta president and Parañaque City Mayor Edwin Olivarez.

Registration is ongoing with free souvenir t-shirts to be given to all participants. For details, call Bobby Mangunay, PPS-PEPP Sports Program Development director, at 0915-4046464.

Meanwhile, the circuit will also hold a tournament at UP Los Baños on April 23-28.

Kim Alcala and Lance Gnilo banner the field in the boys’ 18-and-under class while sisters Arianne and Reisha Nillasca are tipped to clash for the girls’ premier crown in the tournament sanctioned by the Philippine Tennis Association and put up by the country’s leading pawnshop, remittance and claim center.

Gnilo is also seeing action in the 16-U play along with Athan Arejola, RJ Virrey and Vryan De Asis, while the Nillasca sisters are also entered in the 16-U class along with Denise Bernardo, Zoleta, Yvonne Magno and Kaye Alcala.