Taga Tennis takes off

The 2nd Annual Taga Tennis Tournament got off to a drenched start yesterday afternoon, as monsoon rains pushed back the start of matches at least an hour at the American Memorial Park tennis courts.

Nonetheless, officers and members of the by Saipan Tennis Association, led by president Roy Pangelinan, vice president-internal Nelia Luna, and vice president-external Ricky Castro, dried up the courts in no time with help from brand new squeegees.

Seeing action as of press time were second seed Kazumi Imai and Yuko Kobayashi and youngsters Vivian Lee and Mayuko Arriola in the women’s open. Later in the evening, Renato “Dodong” Espanola and Dr. Alberto Ventura of Commonwealth Health Center were set to battle Jess Pacheco and Tony Santos.

In the next two weeks, the AMP tennis courts will be a beehive of activity, kicking off with the above mentioned doubles competition. Singles play and mixed doubles take over the following week. The yearend Taga event concludes with an awards banquet and Christmas party on Dec. 17, Saturday, instead of the earlier announced Dec. 18 date.

The who’s who in the tennis community will see action in the double competition. The pair to beat in the men’s open was supposed to be the tandem of Faheem Ebrahim and Ji Hoon Heo. But Ebrahim pulled out in the last minute, meaning that Pangelinan and Peter Loyola get to assume the No. 1 spot.

Expected to go all the way in the men’s 4.5 is the pair of Pangelinan and Dino Jones. Holding fort in the men’s 4.0 are longtime buddies Jorge Olanda and Edwin Maratas, while another CHC pair, Richard Brostrom and Gary Ramsey are already setting their sights for the first-place trophy in the men’s 3.0.

In the women’s open, Young Son and Kayo Ishii is the team with a big red target in its back, while favorites in the women’s 4.0 is the partnership between Luna and Arlene Osma. Women’s 3.0 has the up-and-coming twosome of Asun Demapan and Ruby Gozon taking the top seed.

STA also reminded participants to always look at the draws posted at the AMP tennis courts bulletin board for updates. The tennis club said due to the unpredictable weather, schedules of matches could be changed in short notice.

Aside from Pacific Trading, the tournament is also being sponsored by USS Peleliu Club and Yuichiro’s Printing Design.

For more information about the 2nd Annual Taga Tennis Tournament, please call Pangelinan at 256-7769, vice president-internal Luna at 288-5151 or 287-0859, vice president-external Ricky Castro at 234-7426, and officers Richard Asuncion at 287-0856, Babu Malayil at 286-9745, and Lope Padilla at 286-9733. Those interested can also email STA at Saipan_tennis@yahoo.com.