LMX Category Elaf Group team (Standing L-R) Marlon Pagsanjan, Noel Ugalde, Arvin Mendoza, Gerry Catalan, William Abella, Ramil Abdua, Jun Atienza (team captian) and Gary Bautro (ASTEC honorary officer). Squatting (L-R) Mario Betorio and Miller Narvas.
Chet Bautista
JEDDAH — Team JRTC-ANTA endured a roller-coaster battle before finally sealing the fourth set to win the Category C championship against a fighting ABTC-Binladen team in the recently concluded 25th ASTEC Team Tennis Tournament 2013, while Red Sea Tennis Players (RSTP) had a double celebration as they won the title in Category B1 against JRTC and HMX Category. Elaf Group reigned supreme in the LMX Category after defeating RSTP.
Jeddah Ranao Tennis Club’s JRTC-ANTA team started like a house on fire as it captured the first set on the efforts of captain Farouk Salacop and Ali Largado, winning 8-3 over Reygil Millabangco and Joel Garcia of team ABTC-Binladen. It was stymied though in the second set as Rajalodin Sultan and Yusoph Cassan lost 4-8 to Frederick Bayal and Reynaldo Amosco to tie the match at 1-1. In the third set, JRTC’s Alexander Modi won the singles 8-4 against Florido Bayal to secure a 2-1 score and a five-point lead. Needing only 4 points to win in the fourth set, Michael and Nick Catimbang coasted along to score 4-5 against Saipoden Dianalan and Ronald Verzosa, enough to give team JRTC-ANTA an insurmountable lead and be declared champion in Category C.
In Category B1, Red Sea Tennis Players (RSTP) stamped their class as they won in straight sets against JRTC. Al Manarandong and Alama Tucalo defeated Tongco and Marouf Pantaran 8-4 in the first set. Then Benny Lazarte and Jojo Aran followed suit to win over Barra and Dau Mua with a similar score in the second set. Putting the icing on the cake in the third set was Aiman Randa who bested Ahmed Sholeh in the singles 8-3 to complete the sweep at 3-0 and seal the championship for RSTP. Fourth set pairing between Ramon Monterde and Domelo Gesto of RSTP against Danny Natangcop and Zaim Umpa was not played.
A shaky start and a first set 5-8 loss by Gerry “Cats” Catalan and Arvin Mendoza against Cris Balles and Jonathan Contreras did not deter Elaf Group to fight back and win the championship in the Category LMX finals against RSTP. Coming back with the deadly combination of Marlon Pagsanjan and Mario Betorio who controlled the second set with an 8-2 win against a stunned Adnan and Alex Tam, Elaf swiftly tied the score 1-1. Then Ramil Abdua and William Abella scored yet another good win over Ron Valdez and Ahmad Lagman 8-3 to put Elaf in 2-1 lead with an overwhelming eight-point advantage.
Going into the fourth set, Elaf needed only to score a point which Miller Narvas and Noel Ugalde took at 1-0 against Galvin Collantes and Joel Quimpo of RSTP to stop the match and help Elaf emerge champion in the LMX Category much to the delight of team captain Jun Atienza and reserve player Bernie Soguilon.
Champions in Category B2 were Sol Bartolome, Ramil, Waleed Batestil, Nilo Borata, Gilbert Bruno, Saipoden Dianalan and Egay Go (captain) of Ace Breakers Tennis Club (ABTC). Players for MMX champion SARIMANOK were Alama Tucalo, Michael Mohammad, Aiman Randa, Mohd Noor Hadji Halil, Al Manarandong, Sammy Macapaar, Zaim Umpa and Nash Mangotara (captain). HMX Category champion Red Sea Tennis Players team (RSTP) members were Randy Matin, Francis Idjao, Carmelo Nery, Rey Diega, Marcial Barro, Dilson Autentico, Juvy Tagudin and Domelo Gesto.
Organized and managed by the Association of Tennis Clubs (ASTEC) Jeddah, this team tournament being played at the Al-Bilad Hotel and Sheraton Hotel tennis courts, was supported by Deltaz Marketing (Racquet Shop) through Tony Kassis, Maher Tebakhi and Amin Malik.
