MANILA — The Philippine soft tennis team, scheduled to arrive Wednesday afternoon, takes pride in winning eight medals at the Poland Cup on July 6.
Led by Southeast Asian (SEA) Games double-gold medalist Bien Zoleta, the Filipinos captured one gold, four silver and three bronze medals in the tournament, which is part of their preparation for the Asian Championships in September.
"I'm happy with my performance in our first international tournament outside Asia. There were many adjustments because of the time difference, it's hard to sleep and recover. It was summer but the wind was cold so I had a fever," shared Zoleta in an interview Wednesday morning while waiting for their flight to Manila at Dubai airport.
She won the women's doubles silver medal with Princess Catindig following their 3-5 loss to Koreans Jeongun Lee and Yesol Kim in the final.
Catindig pocketed two more silver medals in the singles and mixed doubles events.
She bowed to Lee, 2-4, in the singles final, and teaming up with Sherwin Nuguit, they fell to India's Shri Tanu Pandey and Patel Aniket, 2-5, in the mixed doubles final.
"Overall, it’s a good start for the team. We did our best and at the same time, we also enjoyed because it was the team's first tournament in Europe," said Catindig, who won the singles and team gold medals at the 2024 International Soft Tennis Championships World Tour in Pathum Thani, Thailand.
"It's a good experience for all of us, at least we're able to gauge our level if we are ready for the Asian Championships. We will continue training, we'll fix what's needed, from strokes, physical, mental, connection with partner and coaches and all," added Catindig, who won the doubles bronze medal with Zoleta in the Sunchang Open last year.
Joseph Arcilla, the 2023 Cambodia SEA Games singles champion, and Patrick Mendoza won the silver medal after losing to Koreans Hayato Funemizo and Hansol Kim, 2-5.
Arcilla bowed to Funemizo, 1-4, to settle for the bronze in the singles. The other bronze medalists were Adjuthor Moralde II and Nuguit (men's doubles) and rookie Airies Nuguit (women's singles).
Jason Caminti (men's singles), Christy Sañosa and Shyryn Salazar (women's singles), Sañosa/ Salazar and Bea Ebriega/ Nuguit (women's doubles) reached the quarterfinal round.
"The Poland Cup boosted their confidence level even more, they have self-belief that they can compete with the professional teams of Japan and Korea. The tournament is a big help for us, we learned about our strengths and weaknesses during the tournament and we will work on it when we return to Manila in preparation for the Asian Championships in Korea," said head coach Michael Enriquez, who pocketed the 40+ men's doubles gold medal with assistant coach Wenifredo De Leon. They beat India's Jitender Mehelda And Mohammad Akhtar, 5-2.
Josephine Paguyo, a bronze medalist at the 1995 World Championships in Japan, is also a member of the coaching staff.
The national team will attend a training camp in Sunchang City, South Korea from Aug. 24 to Sept. 12 before going to Mungyeong City, which will host the Asian Championships from Sept. 13 to 23. PNA
