First time entrant University of Cebu (UC) table tennis team topped the General Santos Tuna Festival Open Table Tennis tournament held last Sept. 1-2 at SM City in General Santos City.
The team composed of head coach Jessica Honoridez, players Lemuel Agbon, Val Stephen Jaca and Daniel Jay Tormis defeated heavily favored Makati City composed of the country’s former topranked player Antonio Aguinalde, Al Anibal and Jhong Ortalla, 2-1 in the championship round.
UC made the final by beating Bacolod manned by national team member Richard Gonzales, Jose Ortalla and Arnie Uy in the semifinals, 2-1, while Makati whipped Davao City, 2-1.
“They invited us to join the competition because they wanted to see how Cebuano table tennis players play because they have seen us win the National Open earlier this year at the University of the Philippines-Diliman,” Honoridez, an accredited international table tennis official, said.
The 17 year-old Agbon lost to Ortalla in the championship round singles open but 17 year-old Jaca and 16 year-old Tormis downed Aguinalde and Anibal in the doubles open to make it 1-1 before Tormis beat Anibal, 3-1 in the deciding match for the title.
UC bagged P19,500 after its three players also finished in the top three in the juniors division.
“My players were the youngest among the competitors in the open division and we were very thankful that we won because it was a very tough competition considering that some of the country’s best were our opponents,” said Honoridez who also thanked UC for letting them compete and for supporting them during the tournament.
UC will again face Makati City on Sept. 15-16 at the Cebu City Sports Center (CCSC) for the 21st Jawad Cup. Makati will bring in two teams like General Santos City and Bacolod. Lapu-Lapu City and Mandaue City will also compete.
UC will also see action in the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (CESAFI) later this month before going to Marikina to represent Visayas in the 4th National Milo Little Olympics.