Fresh off an eight-medal stint in the Nonghyup Bank Korea Cup two days ago, the national soft tennis team will resume practice at the Felicisimo Ampon Tennis Court inside the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Manila on Monday. National player Dheo Talatayod said in an interview on Saturday that they have to be well-prepared for the tough 19th Asian Games, slated in Hangzhou, China from Sept. 23 to Oct. 8. The soft tennis competition will be held at the Olympic Tennis Center on Oct. 3-7. “We’ll be back in training,” Talatayod said. The Philippines brought home three bronze medals, including one from the mixed doubles pair of Talatayod and Bien Zoleta, in the main draw of the June 14-21 tournament held at the Yeolwoomul Tennis Center indoor hard courts in Incheon City. The other two came from men’s singles (Joseph Arcilla) and men’s team events (Talatayod, Arcilla, Samuel Nuguit, and Ryan Carpio). In the Challenge Round, the Filipinos secured gold medals in men’s singles (Nuguit), women’s singles (Christy Sañosa), mixed doubles (Virvienica Bejosano and Cambodian John Mada), and women’s team (Zoleta, Princess Catindig, Sañosa, Bejosano, Bea Ebriega), while Catindig got a bronze medal in the mixed doubles with Polish Franciszek Sliwa. In the Cambodia Southeast Asian Games in May, the Philippines claimed three gold medals, courtesy of Arcilla (men’s singles), Zoleta and Catindig (women’s doubles), and the women’s team of Catindig, Bejosano, Fatima Amirul, and Zoleta siblings Bien and Bambi). The squad also added one silver from Bambi Zoleta (women’s singles) and one bronze from the men’s team (Arcilla, Talatayod, Mark Anthony Alcoseba, Nuguit, Adjuthor Moralde, and George Patrick Mendoza). The impressive showing in Cambodia was also aided by a technical exchange program with the Korea Soft Tennis Association, where they trained with the Korea Daegu Bank team at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center and in Korea for more training sessions. “I’m happy that I was able to achieve my goal of a podium finish at the Korea Cup because I will also compete in the mixed doubles event in the Asian Games,” said Bien Zoleta, a seasoned tennis player before shifting to soft tennis. “It’s my first time to play in the mixed doubles and I won the bronze medal in the Korea Cup, which is like a test event prior to the Asian Games. Most of the players who joined the Korea Cup will also compete in the Asian Games.” At the 18th Asiad in Indonesia in 2018, South Korea (men’s singles and men’s team) and Japan (women’s singles and women’s team) collected two gold medals each while Chinese-Taipei (mixed doubles) had one. The Philippines’ best result was the quartefinal stint of the Arcilla-led men’s team, which lost to Chinese-Taipei. The 19th Asiad was originally scheduled in Sept. 2022 but was reset due to Covid-19 concerns. Coach Divina Escala said the team plans to join a tournament and attend a training camp in Sunchang, South Korea if they will be granted financial support by the Philippine Sports Commission. “June and July is back to strength and conditioning, and endurance phase to prepare their physical condition to a higher phase of August training camp and last tournament before their Asian Games campaign,” said Escala, who is assisted by Michael John Enriquez and Josephine Paguyo.
Source: Philippines News Agency