Team Cebu City scored a grand slam in the Philippine Open Inter Scholastica Table Tennis Championships by topping the event for three consecutive years in Angeles City, Pampanga over the weekend.
Team Cebu City paddlers headed by coach Jessica Honoridez dominated 12 categories in the event participated by the country’s top table tennis teams and clubs.
Making their victory much sweeter is that one Cebuano, 48-year old Berto Baas will represent not just Cebu City but the entire Philippines in the World Championships in London, England on Jan. 24-25, 2015.
This after Baas dominated both the national and international divisions in men’s Liha singles. Baas, who has no regular job, said he finally realized his dream of competing abroad.
“He’s been a very consistent contender in local tournaments here in Cebu in the Liha category. And although he already qualified in past international competitions, the lack of logistics and pertinent documents prevented his from joining those tournaments,” Honoridez told CDN.
This time though, Honoridez vowed to help Baas look for sponsors that will shoulder his expenses when he competes in the world championships next year. She also bared that she already talked to tournament organizers of the recent national championships to look for generous sponsors.
Team Cebu City also ruled the men’s and women’s open team event, college men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles, mixed doubles, women’s singles, boys and girls secondary singles and Baas’ dominance in the liha international and national events.
Liha refers to rackets used by competitors which has a sandpaper surface. The common racket used in other categories uses rubber as surface cover.
Team Cebu City also placed second in the men’s singles, liha team event and elementary boys singles.