Foiled in his attempt to wrestle the crown in the oldest age category, Cebuano Jan Godfrey Seno bounced back yesterday as he snagged the boys 16-Under crown in the 2015 Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala Regional age-group tennis tournament at the GSIS-ECO 2 and 4 Tennis Club.
The University of San Carlos University-Basic Education Dept. student Seno of Bogo City, north Cebu, topped the 16-Under division title by beating Jerome Romualdez, 6-1, 6-1.
Romualdez is Seno’s former teammate in the Ajay Pathak Memorial Cup/ITF Asia 14-and-under Development Championships 2013 Division I team.
For Romualdez, it was his third time to be foiled in the tournament’s boys’ 16-U class after he was also defeated in two previous Palawan Pawnshop netfest finals by Ateneo’s Cenon Gonzales Jr.
Jan Godfrey’s father, Noel, told Cebu Daily News over the phone that one of the contributing factors of his son’s defeat in the 18-Under finals was his opponent’s home-court edge since Christian Fel Lopez was a Davao City player.
He also said it was the second time that Seno and Romualdez met since the International Tennis Federation Grand Slam Development Fund/Philippine Tennis Academy-sponsored Ajay Pathak Memorial Cup/ITF Asia 14-and-under Development Championships 2013 Division I tilt.
Both Noel and Jan Godfrey were scheduled to fly back home yesterday in time to prepare for another out-of-town tournament, the Cagayan de Oro City leg of the Cebuana Lhuillier tennis tournament, which will start Feb. 6.
Some 300 entries coming from various parts of the Visayas and Mindanao areas took part in the nine-age group category Group 2 Philta tournament in Davao City.