MANILA, Philippines - More than 900 netters, including members of the national team, are expected to participate in the 11th University of the Philippines Donic Star Chancellor’s Cup table tennis championships slated on March 31-April 4 in three different venues in Metro Manila.
The five-day event, endorsed by the UP College of Human Kinetics, will serve as the basis for the selection of the national junior pool by the Table Tennis Association of the Philippines-Luzon chapter for the Asian Youth Games in Singapore this June and World Youth Olympic Games next year.
“We expect teams from different school leagues like the UAAP, NCAA, WNCAA and other teams from Luzon will take part in this annual event,” said tournament organizer Prof. Oskie Sentelices in yesterday’s SCOOP sa Kamayan session at the Kamayan Restaurant in Padre Faura.
Sentelices was joined in the weekly sports forum, sponsored by ACCEL, by former Sen. Nikki Coseteng, one of the main supporters of the competition, which offers P200,000 worth of prizes to the winners.
“It is a privilege to be part of this exciting event. I’m sure the participants, especially the students, will have a great time during the tournament,” said Coseteng, the president of Diliman Preparatory School who is co-hosting the event.
Owner of the Dominique Gallery during formative years of the PBA, Coseteng hopes that this tournament will further hone skills of young table tennis players as well as to discover more talents, especially from the grassroot level.
Players from the reigning UAAP juniors champion University of Santo Tomas and newly-crowned NCAA high school titlist San Beda College are expected to participate in the annual event.
Aside from the UP CHK Gym in Diliman, which will host the March 31 and April 1 games, and the DPS-Coseteng Gym in Commonwealth, Quezon City on April 2, games will also be held at the Starmall in Alabang, Muntinlupa on April 3 and 4.
The annual tournament is part of the 100th year anniversary celebration of the State University as well as the celebration of the Ruby Anniversary (40 years) of the Diliman Preparatory School.
Aside from the 24 events on tap, three special events for “Liha” (sandpaper) racket players swilkl also be played.
The sandpaper-coated racket, according to Sentelices, is still being used in big tournaments in other countries.
Other competitions will be held in Bacolod City on May 20-24, where the candidates from Visayas and Mindanao junior national pool will be selected. (ENDIT)