Mayor Lim to open fifth Flexible Table Tennis Cup

MANILA, Philippines - The first big local table tennis tournament unfolds when the fifth Flexible Cup Table Tennis Championships kicks off tomorrow at the SM City Manila featuring the country’s top table netters led by 2009 Southeast Asian Games bronze medalist Richard Gonzales.

Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim, Fujian Sports Bureau Chairman Xu Zheng Guo and POC secretary general Steve Hontiveros will grace the opening rites of the competition jointly organized by the Table Tennis Association North District (TATAND), the Manila city government, Manila Sports Council (MASCO) and SM City Manila.

Gonzales will see action in the men’s team event where a top prize of P20,000 is at stake while the distaff side, spearheaded by national women’s champion Cristanta Abas of Makati Panther, will be an individual contest where the champion will receive P5,000 in the event sponsored by Flexible Packaging Products Corp., represented by chairman Chan Cuan.

Aside from Gonzales, majority of the national team members and former standouts will also compete in the two-day tourney, which is open to the public for free and will be staged the SM City Manila’s activity center on the mall’s ground floor.

Teams vying in the two-day tournament are Andro, Bestank, Golden Fortune Seafood Restaurant, the DiY Shop, IoSafe, Makati Panthers, Neltex, Spin Davao, Loptta and Yokohama-Remal.