BACOLOD CITY, Negros Occidental, Philippines – City native Dianah Yapiso and Alain Vincent Dominguez of Iloilo City served, drove and smashed their way to the championship in their respective divisions to advance to the Philippine table tennis national team qualifiers in October, this year.
Dominguez dominated his rivals in the Men’s Open while Yapiso outclassed hers in the distaff side.
The two topped THE PTTF Challenge Region 6, a regional qualifier of the Philippine Table Tennis Federation Inc. that held the three-day event starting over the weekend, 5 August 2022.
Hundreds of paddlers from Western Visayas region took part in matches played in two venues – the Negros Occidental Filipino-Chinese Club and the Fil-Sino Cultural Center Foundation – at the Shopping Commercial Complex here.
The tournament had six different categories: Elementary Boys, Elementary Girls, High School Boys, High School Girls, Men’s Open, and Women’s Open.
The winners of each category are:
The event was also highlighted by two veterans, Richard Ginete and Santiago Saligumba, Jr. who lost to the new generation of paddlers.
Ginete grabbed attention when he was matched with Raul Mallen III who won from a 2-0 deficit.
Ginete is a pastor from La Carlota City.
Meanwhile, Saligumba, a native here, prevailed in the group stage and made it to the top eight of the men’s single open.
He is also the younger brother of former Gintong Alay athlete Nida S. Morris who now lives in the United States.
The event was organized by the Philippine Table Tennis Federation, Inc. with the Negros Occidental Provincial Police Forensic Unit thru Police Lt. Colonel Paul Jerome Puentespina in cooperation with Altruist Table Tennis Association, Inc., Negros Occidental Filipino Chinese Amity Club, and Fil-Sino.
Major sponsors of the tournament are TopComs, XIOM, MILO, Bacolod Handgunner, Cornelio Lemoncito, Justin Daniel, Percy Memoria and Sweet Osorio.
PTTF Secretary General Rodolfo “Pong” Ducanes took part in the event as the representative of the national sports agency while Philippine Sports Commission cluster head Nonnie Lopez closed the event.
The tournament was managed by Stephen Andrew Timson, with technical officials Michael Yanos, and Joe Frazer Jalando-on along with 15 umpires from La Carlota and Bacolod City.
DNX News was the official media partner.
