Philippine tennis investing in youth, local talent

MANILA, Philippines — Just a day after a medal shutout, Philippine Tennis Association president Antonio Cablitas said he is investing in the youth and local talent geared towards producing future medal winners.

“Unlike other National Sports Associations, we are just starting to rebuild Philippine tennis,” Cablitas yesterday told The STAR. “And we’re starting at the bottom and focusing on homegrown talents particularly the youth.”

Cablitas said they will be sending talented netters aged eight to 10 years old to train in the Rafael Nadal Tennis Academy in Spain as well as in China where the Philippine government has formed a partnership including in sports.

Philta’s new direction was in stark contrast to the past administrations’ reliance on Fil-Ams namely Cecil Mamiit, Reuben Gonzales and Treat Huey among others.

“That’s the direction we’d like to take and it will take a lot of hard work and patience for us to accomplish it,” said Cablitas.

In the meantime, Cablitas said he is personally supporting local bets like AJ Lim and Marian Jade Capadocia straight from his own pocket when they train and compete in international tournaments.

“The P15 million the Philippine Sports Commission is giving us early this year is not enough to fund a program, that’s why I’m doing my best to provide support to some of our best local talents,” said Cablitas.

With the exception of Fil-German Katharina Lenhert, Philta has fielded its best local talents like Capadocia, Lim, Jeson Patrombon and Francis Casey Alcantara.

None of the players, however, made it past the round-of-32.

Interestingly, the last medals won by the country in the quadrennial meet came in the 2006 Doha Asiad where Mamiit won a singles bronze and a men’s doubles bronze with fellow Fil-Am Eric Taino.