Tenielle Madis and Kylde Lagarde came away with a pair of victories each to clinch the MVP honors in their respective sides in the Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala Cagayan de Oro regional tennis tournament at the Nazareth Tennis Club last Monday.
Madis crushed Val Dandasan, 4-0, 4-0, to run away with the 10-unisex crown then the Mlang, Cotabato rising star held off Casey Padilla, 6-1, 1-6, 10-7, to bag the girls’ 12-and-under title while Lagarde of Gen. Santos City upended top seed Vince Tugade twice to snare the boys’ 16- (6-7(2), 7-5, 10-6) and 18-U (6-1, 6-0) titles in the Group 2 tournament sponsored by Palawan Pawnshop and presented by Slazenger.
Meanwhile, the three-day Tennis Teachers/Coaches Conference and free clinic drew a huge field, prompting the PPS-PEPP, in cooperation with the Macs Crankit Tennis Academy of Australia (MCTA) and the National Tennis Coaches Association of the Philippines (NTCAP), to hold the program in Gen. Santos on April 19-25 aimed up providing a high quality experience to every coaches and athletes alike. For details, call Bobby Mangunay, the PPS-PEPP sports program development director at 0915-4046464.
Madis also bagged the two titles in the Bukidnon leg last month, making her the hottest player thus far in the early going of the year-long, nationwide circuit backed by new sponsor Asiatraders Corp.
Siblings Patricia and John David Velez of Davao shared the spotlight with Oroquieta’s Nash Agustines, Sidney Enriquez of Zamboanga and San Carlos City’s Bliss Bayking.
Patricia thwarted Bayking, 6-2, 6-4, to capture the girls’ 18-U plum; John David outsteadied Brent Cortes, 6-4, 5-7, 12-10, to cop the boys’ 14-U diadem; Agustines downed Alain Ocat, 6-3, 6-2, to nail the boys’ 12-U crown; Enriquez edged Minette Bentillo, 7-5, 3-6, 11-9; and Bayking rebounded with a 6-2(ret.) win over Enriquez in the 16-U finals.
Madis actually nailed a third title as she teamed up with Gavin Kraut to rout Al Rasheed Lucman and Kian Sanchez , 8-3, to clinch the 10-unisex doubles plum while Bentillo and Enriquez took the 14-U title with an 8-4 romp over Andrea Buyante and Richa Labrador.