By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Francis Casey Alcantara and Thai partner Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul withdrew their quarterfinal match in the 1st Qatar Men’s ITF World Tennis Tour in Doha, Qatar on Thursday in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
In an online interview with the Bulletin, Alcantara said they decided to skip the match against Bulgaria’s Alexandar Lazarov and Romania’s Dan Alexandru Tomescu to catch the earliest flights back home.
“Baka maabutan ng lockdown eh, kaya nag-decide na kami ng partner ko na umuwi na lang,” he said.
They opened their campaign with a 3-6, 6-2, 10-4 win over Bulgaria’s Gabriel Donev and Germany’s Milen Ianakiev.
A few hours after, the International Tennis Federation released a statement postponing “all ITF-sanctioned events across the men’s and women’s ITF World Tennis Tour, the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors, the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour, the ITF Beach Tennis World Tour, and the ITF Seniors Tour”.
“This will be reviewed on a weekly basis, but no ITF events will take place until at least the week of Monday, April 20,” said the ITF posted on its website.
PGTI cuts short
Q-School tilt
Meantime, the Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc. called off the final round of its 72-hole Qualifying School for local and foreign bidders at Splendido Taal Golf Club.
It added that the qualifiers for the 11th season of the country’s premier circuit will be determined by the scores after three rounds with Lloyd Go and Arnold Villacencio sharing top honors in the local elims with identical 213 outputs and CJ Lee of the US topping the foreign side with a similar 213 total after 54 holes of play.
The top 30 in the local elims all gain Category 6 status in this year’s PGT starting fields, including Anthony Fernando (217), Tonton Asistio, Robert Pactolerin, Bonifacio Salahog, Dino Villanueva, who all pooled 218s, Belem Arancon, Cookie La’O, Ebarra Quiacho and Sean Talmadge, who all assembled 221s, Rey Pagunsan (222), Raymund Gonzales and Kuresh Samanodi, both with 223s, Francis Morilla (224), Rodrigo Cuello (225);
Arnel Enema (226), amateur Luis Dacudao and Paul Miñoza, who scored identical 227s, Orlan Sumcad (228), Rolando Marabe Jr. and Joseph Suarez, both with 229s, Enrico Gallardo and Joeleo Torrecampo, with similar 230s, Johnel Bulawit (231), Kris Etter, Joseph Labajo and Allan Remata, with identical 232s.
