Madis seeks repeat ‘double’ at PPS Dangcagan

TENNIELLE MADIS hopes to duplicate her two-title feat last week while new faces are expected to emerge in the boys’ side of the Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala Dangcagan leg age-group tennis tournament, which got under way in Bukidnon on Friday.

Madis topped the 12- and 14-and-under divisions in Cagayan de Oro but the rising Mlang, Cotabato star is in for a tough outing this time with Casey Padilla out to avenge her 6-2, 6-4 defeat to the former in the 12-U finals last week.

Tipped to crowd the duo in both di- visions are Jillian Manangking and Angelie Ripdos with Angela Buyante looming as the other player to watch in the 14-U side of the Group 2 tournament sponsored by Palawan Pawnshop and presented by Slazenger.

Close to 200 entries are seeing action in the five-day event hosted by Mayor Fruto Dandasan, who tapped the Dangcagan and the Kibawe, Maramag tennis clubs to accommodate the big number of participants in the event backed by Asiatraders Corp.

They include youngsters from Lanao, CdO, Kibawe, Maramag, Malaybalay, Kabacan, Pikit, Mlang, Digos, Glan, Malita, Gen. Santos, Davao and the host province.

“It’s inspiring to see these youngsters from various provinces and cities joining and eager to slug it out not only for top honors and ranking points but also for experience,” said Palawan Pawnshop president/CEO Bobby Castro. “Through our nationwide, year- long circuit, we hope to discover and develop players who could become future members of the national pool.”

Meanwhile, Ozamis City will host the fourth leg on February 15 to 19. Registra- tion is ongoing. For details, call PPS Sports Program Development director and event organizer Bobby Mangunay at 09154046464.

Kenichiro Suzuki, John Linsagan, Vince Dandasan and Bruce Hurtado head the boys’ 18-U cast while Jay Balaoing, Joaquin Palo, Geoross Manuel and Joedieper Lim banner the 16-U roster with Balaoing and Palo sharing the top seeding with Andre Sing and Reyman Saldivar Jr. in the 14-U category of the event sanctioned by the Unified Tennis Philippines, made up of PPS-PEPP, Cebuana Lhuillier, Wilson, Toby’s, Dunlop, Slazenger and B-Meg.