MANILA, June 16 ------ The Philippines earned a silver medal in the junior girls’ U19 team event in the 2023 Southeast Asia (SEA) Youth Table Tennis Championships in Brunei. Kheith Rhynne Cruz, Chrishien Mae Santillan, Althea Jade Gudes, and Jelaine Monteclaro assured themselves a silver medal after beating Vietnam, 3-1, in the semifinals of the competition organized by the Southeast Asian Table Tennis Association (SEATTA).
They, however, succumbed to Thailand in the finals, 1-3, to settle for the bridesmaid finish. Before the playoffs, the Philippine squad swept the group stage of the seven-nation table tennis tilt. The silver was the best finish by the Philippines in a women’s team event in a SEATTA competition.
The Philippines went undefeated in Group B highlighted by a 3-1 win over Singapore, one of the top table tennis teams in the region. It also pummeled Brunei, 3-0, and Malaysia, 3-1, to take first place and arrange a crossover semifinal showdown against Vietnam. “The silver medal will serve as motivation to come up with more programs to discover new talents for the national team,” said Philippine Table Tennis Federation Inc. president Ting Ledesma.
Prior to the SEATTA, Cruz was fresh from competing in the 32nd Southeast Asian Games in which she made the national team through PTTF’s selection tournament held in Puerto Princesa last March. The SEA Games last May saw Richard Gonzales and John Russel Misal taking the bronze medal in the men’s doubles for Team Philippines.
Source: news.abs-cbn.com
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