Edouard Valenet Imperial and Eljey Dan Tormis booked slots in the national team to the 32nd Southeast Asian Games following their impressive performances in the Philippine Table Tennis Federation Inc. (PTTF) National Selection 2023 in Puerto Princesa recently.
Apart from Imperial and Tormis also securing slots were Kheith Rhynne Cruz, Angelou Joyce Lauden, Rose Jean Fadol, and Sendrina Andrea Balatbat.
Richard Gonzales and John Russel Misal are already seeded in the national team following their silver medal win in the doubles competition of the Hanoi SEA Games, while Jann Mari Nayre and Emy Rose Dael are also seeded.
Both Nayre and Dael are currently training in Europe.
Imperial got one of the spots after the Fil-French finished with a 9-1 win-loss record in the third and final round of the selection, while Tormis, a 19-year-old product of the Hua Ching Foundation of philanthropist Bill Yap in Mandaue, Cebu, placed second with an 8-2 win-loss mark.
Cruz went undefeated in the third round of the women’s division with a 12-0 mark, followed by Laude (11-1), Fadol (9-3), and Balatbat (8-4) following a rigorous selection process.
The National Selection began with all players, 31 in the men’s division and 30 in the women’s side, being grouped and play a single round-robin, with the group winners advancing to the next round.
“We are so happy that we have successfully hosted the National Selection to represent the country in the Southeast Asian Games. We are looking forward to hosting the World Table Tennis Youth Contender this coming October. We are eagerly waiting for the participants to come back,” said Puerto Princesa Mayor Lucilo Bayron.
“We are satisfied with the results. It was a well-run event. Thank you again to Mayor Bayron and Puerto Princesa for hosting this event and we are looking forward to staging more table tennis events here in Puerto Princesa in the future,” said PTTF president Ting Ledesma.
