The national table tennis team. Handout photo.
MANILA -- The country's table tennis stars are now preparing for the Southeast Asian Table Tennis Association (SEATTA) juniors tournament next month in Brunei.
This comes after their promising campaign in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games, where the national team returned with a bronze medal.
Richard Gonzales and John Russel Misal captured the bronze medal in the men’s doubles, and only dropped their semifinal match to world rated and eventual gold medalist Izaac Quec and Koen Pang of Singapore.
Kheith Rhynne Cruz also competed in the women’s singles and the women’s doubles along with RJ Fadol, and the women’s team with Fadol, Angel Laude, Emy Rose Dael, and Muse Balatbat.
Laude also teamed up with Edouard Valenet in the mixed doubles.
The Philippine Table Tennis Federation Inc. (PTTF) thanked the Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Olympic Committee, Abet Reyes of Prottec, and Bill Yap of Huaching Foundation for the support to the team.
"Aside from getting a bronze medal, we competed in four events, some of them reached the quarterfinals and came close to a medal as most of them were close matches," said PTTF president Ting Ledesma, as they expressed their optimism about the direction of the national team following the results of the SEA Games.
"We are in the right direction and we will strive harder to produce more medals in the future."
The PTTF formed the team through a national selection held last March in Puerto Princesa, and underwent rigorous training leading up to the SEA Games.
For more stories on the 32nd Southeast Asian Games, click here.