Tennis great gets emotional during Davis Cup awarding

JUAN “Johnny” Jose was teary-eyed when he was asked to give a speech after he received his Davis Cup trophy as one of the commitment awardees yesterday at the Plantation Bay Resort and Spa in Lapu-Lapu City.

“I’m too speechless,” was all he managed to say.

Jose, along with Johnny Arcilla, Felicisimo Ampon and Raymundo Deyro were chosen as the awardees for representing the Philippines in the Davis Cup for so many years.

Only Jose and Arcilla made it to  the awarding ceremony yesterday afternoon while the late Ampon was represented by his grandsons Dominic and David Ampon Mallare. Deyro was not able to attend the awarding.

The awardees received a Davis Cup trophy from London. It was  was handed out by International Tennis Federation (ITF) representative Puneet Gupta.

Also present during the awarding were Philippine Sports Commissioner (PSC) and former Philippine Tennis Association president Buddy Andrada, PHILTA vice president and Philippine Davis Cup administrator Randy Villanueva, Cebuana Lhuillier Philippine Davis Cup team manager Jean Henri Lhuillier and Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza.

The names of all awardees from other countries will be placed in a board at the ITF office in London./CORRESPONDENT MARS G. ALISON