KUWAIT CITY, March 4: Team Al Ghanim fell on their racquets again when they got clobbered by Intrex-Berks Friday on the second playing date of the FTAK Spring Team Tennis Tournament 2008 held at KOC’s Hubara Club courts.
Intrex-Berks got off to rousing start, stringing four straight wins before Al Ghanim got on the tally sheet with three consecutive wins of their own to reduce the deficit. The two squads then fought on close terms in the remaining three matches, with the latter gunning for at least two wins to salvage a win even through game points.
Ednor Luces and Sajid Avila drew first blood for Intrex-Berks, forming an effective combination to down Al Ghanim’s Danny Bumanlag and Sonny Robles 8-5 in the opening C/C1 match-up, followed by William Naoe and partner Rajib’s cliffhanger 8-7 decision over Dodong Bag-ao and Romar Macagaling in the B/B1 tussle.
Nawaf Al Shammari and Russell Centeno continued the streak with another tight 8-7 triumph over Ritchel Cadavos and Hassan Mohammed in the lower A/A pairing while Ashraf Al Rashidi and Ephraim Garcia ran roughshod over Ritchel and Sham, whitewashing the Al Ghanim duo 8-0 in their higher A/A meeting.
On cloud nine after their whirlwind 4-0 start, Intrex-Berks was jolted back to reality when Al Ghanim’s Raymond and Rey handed Jonathan Rimando and partner Ildone a good 8-1 thrashing in their lower C/C encounter; siblings Demjana and Nora outstroking veteran pair Ghie De Perio and Leah Palomo 8-4 in the ladies pairing; and Mike with Edgar Cortez pipping Benz Diaz and Nestor Lorenzo 8-7 in C/C2.
Seemingly on a roll, Ritchel and Dodong Bag-ao started out strong in their lower A/B match against Intrex-Berks Nawaf and William, only to sputter and lapsed into errors, eventually falling 3-8 to the latter pair.
Sonny Robles and Dem took one back for Al Ghanim with their 8-4 defeat of Benz and Leah in the higher C/L pairing before Dewan Kabir and Rajib closed out Intrex-Berks’ win with their 8-5 beating of Romar and Adonis in B/B2.
Intrex-Berks garnered 64 game points in six matches won against Al Ghanim’s 59 (4 wins).
Klin’s Pirates racked up their second win, beating KOC Falcon Return 6-4 in their encounter.
The two squads split the first two matches with Dante Yoro and Ato bagging the opening C/C1 tussle for the Pirates with their 8-4 downing of the Falcons’ Winston Laboriante and Ferdie Cabrido, while Dante Cosio and Ferdie Marasigan returned the favor with a similar 8-4 win over Pirates’ duo Franklin Mariano and Joel Yarte in B/B1.
It was the Pirates in the next four encounters, led by Pipo and Ato’s 8-2 clobbering of Norman Abad and Marlon Miguel in lower A/A; Bernie Dela Cruz and Andre outdistancing Marlon and Ferdie Marasigan 8-7 in higher A/A; Boyong Mangunay and Ruel Naresma overpowering ladies pair Cristy Miguel and Becky Kabir in the lower C/C match-up; and Gina Marasigan/Joan Arugay outpointing Becky and Vilma Laboriante 8-5 in L/L.
The Falcons then took over, winning three straight via: Ferdie Cabrido and Edwin Basuel’s 8-6 triumph over the Pirates’ Rene Lindo and Joel Yarte; Marlon and Dante Cosio’s 8-0 blanking of Jaypee Parayno and Indian partner Abijith in lowe A/B; and Joel Jimenez/Vilma Laboriante’s 8-2 mauling of Gina Marasigan and Dante Yoro in higher C/L.
The Falcons’ effort to equalize fell short however, when Norman Abad and Dante Cosio failed to maintain their momentum after grabbing and early lead over the Pirates’ Franklin Mariano and Dante Yoro who overtook and beat them 8-6 in B/B2.
Klin’s Pirates topped KOC Falcon Return 6 (59 pts) matches to 4 (56 pts).
Goodyear Tires/Al Mailem (formerly Mahboula Acers) also registered their second win in as many outings by dominating the toothless Tigers 7-2 in their meeting.
Lope Gallana and August Santos kick-started the Goodyear Tires juggernaut with their 8-4 win over Tigers’ pair Cris Belano and Greg Belista in the opening C/C1 match, and was quickly followed by Julius Mag-usara and Oloy Payales’ 8-2 thumping of Tony Dezeda and Bert Malaca in their B/B1 tiff.
The tire makers’ march got momentarily stalled when Rey Laroza and Sammy Miclat were waylaid 5-8 by the Tigers’ Bert and Rey Retumpan in the lower A/A encounter. After that brief hiccup, the juggernaut got on the way again, with Rey Laroza coming back with Raed Al Saleem to bundle off the Tigers’ R-R pair (Rey Malapitan and Rey Retumpan) 8-2 in the higher A/A match-up.
Dodong Congayo and Eric Alfafara were impressive in their 8-3 battering of Roger Sunico and Mohammed Abdullah in the lower C/C tussle while Arced Condes and Junjie Geografo exerted just enough effort to dispose off Cris Belano and Kristel Oosthuizen in the C/C2 encounter.
Julius Mag-usara and Eymard Mallillin formed a solid combination brushing aside Sonny Busa and Tony Dezeda 8-3 in their lower A/B meeting.
Renee Oosthuizen and Roger momentarily stopped the Tigers’ rut with an 8-6 decision over Goodyear Tires’ Bryan and Assel in the higher C/L pairing before Arced and Oliver Abary drove the final nail on the Tigers’ coffin with their 8-3 win over Sonny Busa and Ronald Usal in B/B2.
Goodyear Tires/Al Mailem’s one-sided triumph rendered a pending match (L/L) moot and academic, registering 69 game points out of seven wins, against the Tigers’ 37 from two wins.
Earlier, in a simple ceremony, Boyong Mangunay was awarded his prize for submitting the winning entry in the FTAK official logo contest.

By Boie Conrad Dublin
Arab Times Staff