CEBU, Philippines- The Bacolod City-based Lopue Table Tennis Association (LOPTTA) stole the spotlight in the 24th Erne Jawad Memorial Table Tennis Championships the other night at the Cebu City Sports Center. After several years of trying, LOPTTA's Mark Jimenez finally grabbed the men's open title of Cebu's longest running table tennis event after defeating Jhong Ortalla, 11-8,11-9,11-4.
Maryl Lagunday, who seldom plays outside of Bacolod now, returns to Cebu to snare the women's open tiara at the expense of University of Cebu's Jerny Kaye Pepito 11-4, 11-9, 11-5.
LOPTTA also claimed the championship in the team event after completing a 2-0 sweep of Mandaue's Hua Ching Foundation.
Isais Sorono got the first singles against Andrew Timson, 11-3, 7-11, 14-12, 11-9, 11-6. He then teamed up with Mark Jimenez in posting a 9-11, 11-7,11-9, 11-7 win against Glenn Rodriguez and Genesis Dapat.
Defending champion Table Tennis Association of the North District (TATAND) could only make it to third place this time after edging out University of Cebu led by Dannel Jay Tormis, 2-1.
LOPTTA though missed the boys under-13 crown after losing to Cebu City Central School in the finals. Eljay Dan Tormis opened City Central's bid with two-set triumph over Raymart Perez, 11-3, 11-6, 11-5, then finished off the battle alongside Krisjohn Lloyd Cabaluna with a 13-11, 13-11, 9-11, 11-8 win against John Yanson and Mel John Valdez.
The young Tormis really showed a lot of promise as he also topped the boys 18 spiced up with a runner-up finish in the boys 13.
In the boys 18, Eljay Tormis prevailed in a thrilling four-seet over Mark Ortegas, 11-4, 11-5,9-11, 12-10. He missed the boys 13-under title due to exhaustion on the way to drop a 11-9,11-9, 11-8 decision to Dominic Lucero.
UC's Diana Oliverio and Jeramae Saromines, on the other hand, came up with a 1-2 finish in the girls 18 battle. (FREEMAN)