Sabah duo clinch bronze for M'sia
Published on: Tuesday, October 16, 2018
Kota Kinabalu: Team Malaysia represented by Sabah youngsters Leviance Chong and Cristabel Ntakop won bronze in the girls junior team event of the Philippines University Soft Tennis Championships held in San Jose Del Monte Bulacan, Philippines recently.They shared third place with the Philippines Junior squad, behind the Philippines Elite team who captured the title with Cambodia in second place.International Affairs officer for Sabah Soft Tennis Association (SSTA) KK Chin who also acted as coach for the team said it was a successful outing for the two girls.ADVERTISEMENT "The trip was meant as exposure for the duo in preparation for the Korea World Juniors in November but it turned out to be a very good outing as Leviance even qualified for the Junior Girls Singles main draw before losing to Filipina Khy Hitosis 1-4."Earlier, she advanced to the junior main draw with the important 3-1 win over local girl Louise Diloy.Despite lack of experience during the preliminary round, Chin said Leviance showed her potential and put up fights before falling to Asian Games player Guia Arzaga 0-3; Philippines' NCAA runner-up Toni Raymundo 1-3; and Cambodia's Rin Sotheary 1-3 in her other matches.Cristabel on the other hand, made her own gallant effort against qualifiers Eileen Peralta (0-3) and Bianca Pica (0-3) before finally managing to win a game with losses to Tinghuy Bo of Cambodia (1-3) and Eunice Tabotabo (1-3).ADVERTISEMENT In the doubles, Leviance and Cristabel lost to Cambodia's Sotheary Rin and Mariyana Meth 1-4; San Beda University pair Khy Hitosis-Vervien Bejonaso 1-4; College of St. Benilde duo Roni Hortaliz-Eunice Tabotabo 2-4; and Lyceum University players Fatima Amirul-Jaeka Frias 1-4.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
Daily Express Malaysia
"Our Sabah soft tennis players really need to compete in high level tournaments such as the Philippine University Games because they have many divisions which is important in our preparations for the World Juniors in Korea on November 18," said Chin.
ADVERTISEMENT
Meanwhile, the closing ceremony was graced by Philippine Soft Tennis Association (PSTA) president Col. Eff Tamayo and secretary general Joven Sepino. - GL Oh