Imperial, Tormis secure SEA Games table tennis roster spots

MANILA, Philippines – Edouard Valenet Imperial and Eljey Dan Tormis booked slots in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games following their performance in the Philippine Table Tennis Federation Inc. (PTTF) National Selection 2023 in Puerto Princesa recently.

Imperial and Tormis emerged as top performers in the selection to make it to the national team for the first time, with women players Kheith Rhynne Cruz, Angelou Joyce Lauden, Rose Jean Fadol and Sendrina Andrea Balatbat also clinching spots for the biennial meet to be held in Cambodia.

Richard Gonzales and John Russel Misal are already seeded in the national team following their silver medal in the doubles competition of the Hanoi SEA Games, while Jann Mari Nayre and Emy Rose Dael are also seeded and is currently training in Europe.

Imperial got one of the spots after the Fil-French finished with a 9-1 win-loss record in the third and final round of the selection, while Tormis, a 19-year-old product of the Hua Ching Foundation of philanthropist Bill Yap in Mandaue, Cebu, placed second with an 8-2 win-loss mark.

Cruz went undefeated in the third round of the women’s division with a 12-0 mark, followed by Laude (11-1), Fadol (9-3), and Balatbat (8-4) following a rigorous selection process.

The National Selection began with all players, 31 in the men’s division and 30 in the women’s side, being grouped and play a single round-robin, 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,” said Puerto Princesa mayor Lucilo Bayron.

“We are satisfied with the results. It was a well-run event. Thank you again to Mayor Bayron and Puerto Princesa for hosting this event and we are looking forward to staging more table tennis events here in Puerto Princesa in the future,” said PTTF president Ting Ledesma.

“Based sa results dito, sa tingin ko ito ‘yung pinakamalalim na team natin na ipapadala ever sa SEA Games. Hopefully, this team will produce the elusive gold medal na hinahabol natin sa table tennis,” said PTTF secretary general Pong Ducanes.