JEDDAH, 22 March — Team B1B Malaysia Airlines stormed into the finals of the Malaysia Airlines Team Tennis Challenge carrying the emblem of the challenge all from the elimination unscathed, and now on the verge of sweeping the championship in the unified B1B category by making it two in a row against the highly rated SGTNF-Aramex.
The airliners breezed through SGTNF-Aramex 5-0 in their round-robin elimination battle, but survived a scare in their semifinal showdown as a pair of heroes, Teddy Austria and Benny de Leon cranked up to crush a late charge of SGTNF and took the 5th set , 8-5, and the semifinal match 3-2 for Malaysia Airlines.
It looked like the die was cast early for an easy win for the director’s (Rhodel Rina) team, as they stormed for a 2-0 sets lead which he himself generated by grabbing the second set (8-4) in partnership with Venus Layoso out of the leads that they never relinquished at 4-1 and 5-4, the closest, against SGTNF’s Ryan Malonda and Ricky Gaviola. That set was preceded by a romp-away game of George Garguena and Ronnie Reyes versus SGTNF’s Shawn Kanavan and Bong Nigos in the first set.
Speedy George made his footwork at full gear covering the baseline in support for Ronnie’s foray into the net zone and towering overhead shots that stunned the SGTNF duo with 8-1 score. But the vaunted SGTNF-Aramex B1B double of Anthony Pangililingan and Ferdie Gaviola came out in the third set scorching the court with crippling serve and volley shots, taking away the set at will, 8-5, after leading 7-3 against the usually reliable Nemie Melencio and Rudy Palustre of the Malaysia Airlines team.
Alex Pena and Ed Manabat could have closed out victory for Malaysia Airlines in the 4th set in the 11th game and onwards, but the duo’s consistency faltered after their 7-4 lead that cost them the set in favor of Ronnie Velga/Erick Lhomera via a tiebreaker at 5-7. Benny de Leon and Teddy Austria took the cudgels thereon, leveled at 3-3 against Remy Manuntag and Loret Sanches of SGTNF-Aramex in the early going, then broke away for 6-3 until the final winning score of 8-5.
In Category B2, seeding almost took the script as the top two seeds in each group, except Pogmatch, made it to the semifinals. SPTC took the 4th slot of the semis by virtue of its quarterfinal 3-0 win over Saudi Oger joining Saudi Divers-Tetrapak from Group 2 with NCB and APO in Group 1. Both NCB and Saudi Divers advanced without a loss, and now to play APO and SPTC in crossover matchups.
An agile TPST team in Category C found its wings short to scale new heights and failed to prey over a possible third victim in a row against the devastating guns of Group 1 top-seed Hidada as it crashed down (0-3), failing to land on a semifinal berth. Malaysia Airlines is the principal sponsor of this event, with the following as co-sponsors are: ALJ-Toyota, SDD First Net, Albilad Hotel, Harrry Ramsden’s Restaurant, AlZouman Cargo & Swatch Co. ASTEC (Association of Tennis Clubs in Jeddah) is managing the tournament under the leadership of Cesar Quilenderino as chairman and Rhodel Rina as tournament director.
