EDOUARD VALENET IMPERIAL and Eljey Dan Tormis earned berths in the national team to the Cambodia 32nd Southeast Asian Games following their strong performance in the recent Philippine Table Tennis Federation Inc. (PTTF) National Selection 2023 in Puerto Princesa City.
Imperial and Tormis are first-time members of the national team, where they will be joined by female players Kheith Rhynne Cruz, Angelou Joyce Lauden, Rose Jean Fadol and Sendrina Andrea Balatbat.
Richard Gonzales and John Russel Misal are seeded in the national team because of their doubles silver medal at the Hanoi 31st SEA Games last year, along with Jann Mari Nayre and Emy Rose Dael who are currently training in Europe.
The Filipino-French Imperial won nine of his 10 matches in the third and final round of the selection process, while Tormis, a 19-year-old from the Hua Ching Foundation of philanthropist Bill Yap in Mandaue City, placed second with an 8-2 win-loss record.
Cruz went undefeated in 12 matches in the third round of the women’s division, followed by Laude (11-1), Fadol (9-3) and Balatbat (8-4).
The selection began with all players—31 men and 30 women—grouped and played a single round-robin format with the group winners advancing to the next round.
All group winners were bracketed into four for another single round-robin with the top two in each group making it to the third and final round where they play another set of round-robin this time with the one national player from the men and three from the women included.
“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,” Puerto Princesa City Mayor Lucilo Bayron said.
“We are satisfied with the results. It was a well-run event,” PTTF president Ting Ledesma said. “Thank you again to Mayor Bayron and Puerto Princesa for hosting this event.”
