KUALA LUMPUR – Like her famous father – PBA great Alvin Patrimonio – Anna Clarice wants to feel what it is to win a gold medal for the country.
And that’s the reason why she vowed to give her all when she battles Thai ace Kuksika Kumkhum in women’s tennis final today in the 29th Southeast Asian Games.
Patrimonio, 23, is also going for redemption after settling for a bronze medal during the Palembang Games in 2011.
“Gagawin ko po lahat ng makakaya ko,” said Patrimonio, who is looking to become the first Filipina netter to win a gold medal for the country after 16 years.
Patrimonio’s father was a member of the gold medal winning team during the 1987 Jakarta Games.
She, however, is the first Filipina to reach the women’s singles finals after Pia Tamayo, Maricris Fernandez, Marissa Sanchez, and Evangeline Olivarez.
Tamayo gave the country its first-ever gold medal in women’s singles when she ruled the event in the 1981 Manila SEA Games before Fernandez duplicated the feat in the 1991 edition in Bandar Seri Begawan.
Sanchez, meanwhile, took home the gold when lawn tennis was included as a medal sport and was played in the 1977 Kuala Lumpur biennial meet before being duplicated by Olivarez in the 1993 Games in Singapore.
