Gubaton, Dael lead national table tennis cadet team

MANILA, Philippines - Bacolod’s John Paul Gubaton and Emy Rose Dael swept their respective matches to lead all 10 qualified national junior players in the National Junior’s Table Tennis Open Selection over the weekend at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

Gubaton, 16, tallied 16 straight wins to top the boys’ class, while Dael, 14, stayed unbeaten in 14 games to rule the girls division of the week-long tournament organized by the Table Tennis Association of the Philippines.

Over 60 players that qualified in the recent Manila, Visayas and Mindanao Open leg selections competed in the single round-robin format over the weekend.

“We need to do a different approach in selecting our national youth players,” said TATAP president Ting Ledesma. “The players must win as many as they can for us to find out who really are the best.”

Gubaton and Dael, under Lopue Table Tennis Association coach and former national player Marell Lagunday, joined eight other players – 15-year-old Jamaica Sy, Celine Ching, Thelly Ann Marie, Walden Shayne Ledesma, Ryan Rodney Jacolo, Jann Marie Nayre and John Michael Castro.