JEDDAH, 15 February — The official opening of the 5th Seiko-AFTPA Team Tennis Tournament went off without a hitch and made a successful debut last Friday to the relief of spectators, players and delight of organizers. Current AFTPA Chairman Ding Miranda declared the tournament open before the jam-packed crowd at the Sheraton Hotel tennis courts unleashing a two-month long team tennis competition.
Hussam S. Salahi, sales and marketing manager of Al Hussaini & Co. delivered his message on behalf of Abdulrahman Al Hussaini and substantiated their continuous support to AFTPA. He took notice of the tournament as sponsored by them as one of the renowned sporting event in the Western Region.
For his part, Vice Consul Angelo Amonoy delivered his inspirational message and took cognizance of the achievements of the AFTPA. Both lauded the efforts of the organizing committee and commended them for their untiring service to the community by providing a worthy leisure pursuit and a wholesome entertainment. He also swore into office the current set of AFTPA officers. Gil Manese, secretary general and acting as chairman of the KASAPI Congress also spoke on the occasion.
Adjudged the winners in best in team uniform in categories C, B2 and Unified B1B are Bassamh, Seiko team and MRS Rubber respectively. Sporting a complete Reebok outfit, Seiko team made a double delight when their six-year-old boy Gerickson Nazaire dressed as a clown and two young girls from Saudia City tennis club costumed as witches easily won the hearts of the crowd and were adjudged as the Best Mascots of the tournament. Vice Consul Angelo Amonoy and Hussam Salahi officially declared the tournament open by a ceremonial toss assisted by past chairman Boy Cornejo.
With one category B1 match played so far, Saudi Divers-BCJ emerged victorious by drubbing Seiko-Kinetic. Saudi’s Shukri Boshar of Kinetic didn’t hold into the expectation of his teammates when he surrendered to the gritty George Garguena 5-8. The first doubles pair of Danny Canoy and Bong Flosa won in a hard fought tiebreak battle against Gerry Alcantara and Nestor Sorosoro 8-7(7-3).
Mustafa early on the third set was leading 3-0 only to find himself struggling for every points midway in the game. A ding-dong battle followed suit down the stretch only for Loremia to prove the stronger player in the tie break winning 8-7(7-2) to give Saudi Divers an unassailable 3-0 lead. Ed Narvaez and Romy Paraiso saved Seiko-Kinetic from further ignominy winning over Khalid Hizham and Carlos Masinsin 8-5. Loy Escabusa completed the formalities by rubbing salt in Kinetic’s wounds to finally seal the match and beat Hussam Salahi 8-5 for a 4-1 final tally.
This two-month long tournament is run and managed by AFTPA, the All Filipino Tennis Players Association and is primarily sponsored by Al Hussaini & Co., the exclusive distributor of Seiko watches in Saudi Arabia with Reebok Saudi Arabia (Zahid Tractor), Singapore Airlines, Racquet Shop, Pepsi Cola Bugshan, and friends of AFTPA as co-sponsors.
Some opening day matches in category B2 saw last year’s quarterfinalist Hidada being stretched to the limit before subduing the stubborn Express Point for a 3-2 win. Saudia City on the other hand made it easy against TBC winning through for a 4-1 final score.
In another category B2 encounter, JPTC-Siyangco registered an upset win over Seiko. JPTC-Siyangco’s tandem jumped to an early lead with Kerwin Valenzuela and Marlon Espina pocketing a surprise 8-2 win over Boy Cornejo and Ramzi Abul Hosn in the first doubles. Efren Bulatao got the better of Mehdz Mabang 8-5 to pull even at 1-1.
Rod Ramelb and Freddie Felipe started strongly against George Bornales and Inday Della but was short-lived when they yielded to the determined pair of JPTC-Siyangco. Fred Felipe was unable to hold serve on the 14th game thus pushed the game into a tie-break before succumbing to a 1-7 tie break score. Trailing 1-2 Seiko’s Hussam Salahi prevented JPTC-Siyangco’s onslaught by quashing the challenge of Ed Ultra with the former winning in a tight tiebreak 8-7 (9-7) to level the score at 2-2. Seiko’s Gerry Nazaire and Serge Taga was leading 6-5 after the 11th but lost the last three games before Bong Tipon and Walter Garcia finally clinching the set 8-6 and the match 3-2.
