Philippine Table Tennis Players Imperial and Tormis Qualify for SEA Games Slots

Filipino table tennis players Edouard Valenet Imperial and Eljey Dan Tormis qualified for the 32nd Southeast Asian Games thanks to their performances at the PTTF National Selection 2023 tournament in February.

Women’s players Kheith Rhynne Cruz, Angelou Joyce Lauden, Rose Jean Fadol, and Sendrina Andrea Balatbat also earned spots on the national team to compete in the upcoming biennial meet in Cambodia, and top performers Imperial and Tormis made it onto the team for the first time.

Silver medalists in the doubles competition at the Hanoi SEA Games, Richard Gonzales and John Russel Misal, are already seeds in the national team, and Jann Mari Nayre and Emy Rose Dael are also seeds and are currently training in Europe.

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 card, while Imperial, a Fil-French who finished with a 9-1 win-loss record in the third and final round of the selection, won one of the spots.

“We are overjoyed to have successfully hosted the National Selection for the Southeast Asian Games team. This coming October, we will be hosting the World Table Tennis Youth Contender. According to Mayor Lucilo Bayron of Puerto Princesa, the city is “eagerly awaiting” the return of the participants.

In the women’s division, Cruz won the third round with a perfect 12-0 record, followed by Laude (11-1), Fadol (9-3), and Balatbat (8-4).

At the start of the National Selection, all of the players (31 men’s and 30 women’s) were divided into groups and played a single round robin, with only the winners advancing to the next stage.

The top two teams from each group advanced to the third and final round, where they played another set of round robin matches against each other, this time joined by one national player from the men’s team and three from the women’s team.

That’s good enough for us, and we’re happy with the results. The event went off without a hitch and was very professionally executed. PTTF president Ting Ledesma expressed gratitude to Mayor Bayron and the city of Puerto Princesa for hosting the tournament and expressed hope that the city would continue to play host to international table tennis competitions in the future.

From these results, I conclude that this is the best Philippine team to compete in the Southeast Asian Games. Pong Ducanes, secretary general of the Philippine Table Tennis Federation, expressed hope that this team would bring home the country’s first Olympic gold medal in table tennis. For more insights into table tennis and sports betting guide, stay tuned.