PH Table Tennis Team Eyes 3 Medals at Cambodian SEA Games

Philippine Table Tennis Federation, Inc. (PTTF) president Ting Ledesma hopes that the team going to the Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia next month can bring home at least three medals.

“The goal is one gold and two bronze,” Ledesma said in an interview on Wednesday. “We have two talented newcomers who are potential medal winners.

Ledesma said that a gold medal can come in men’s doubles and two bronze medals in men’s and women’s singles.

The men’s team includes Jann Mari Nayre, John Russell Misal, Eljey Dan Tormis, Filipino-French Edoard Valenet and Richard Gonzales, while the women’s team includes Rose Jean Fadol, Kheith Rhynne Cruz, Sendrina Andrea Balatbat, Angelou Joyce Laude and Emy Rose. Dael.

In the men’s doubles, the 2022 Vietnam Sea Games silver medal winners Misal and Gonzales and the pair Valenet and Tormis will see action.

Gonzales and Nayre are also in men’s singles, while Cruz and Dael are in women’s singles.

Cruz and Fadol and Dael and Laude will play in the women’s doubles. Valenet and Laude are another mixed doubles game. Valenet and Tormis both performed brilliantly at the PTTF National Selection last February in Puerto Princesa, Palawan to earn spots on the SEAG-affiliated team.

“I’m excited,” said 19-year-old Tormis, who will play with Fadoli in mixed doubles.

“I’m proud to say that being on the national team is one of the best achievements I’ve had because this is one of my dreams that came true,” said the 5-foot-6 Bachelor of Science. management student at the University of Santo Tomas (UST).

Born and raised in Cebu City, Tormis moved to Manila in 2018 and lived with a couple, Mary Jane and Mark Chavez, who are both table tennis enthusiasts.

“I met Korean coach Kwon Mi Sook during the 2017 Huaching International Invitational in Cebu. She was in the national team at the time. She saw my potential and started training me and Jann Mari Nayre,” she said.

Nayre made history as the first Filipino table tennis player to compete in the Youth Olympics when she qualified for the 2018 competition held in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The SEA Games in Cambodia is not the first international tournament for Tormis. He joined the national junior team in 2020 and two years later won bronze in the team competition with Henze Dominique Lucero, Mahendra Cabrido and Yves Reg at the Southeast Asian Junior and Cadet Championships in Bangkok, Thailand.

“Hopefully, with the support of PFFT, my alma mater UST and our sponsors, I can achieve more in the future,” Tormis said. (PNA)