Filipino Joanna Tao Yee Tan hopes to get another podium in the Manila Open, the third leg of the Asia Pacific Padel Tour (APPT), to be held at Padel Play Club in Mandaluyong City this weekend.
The second-ranked pair of Tan and Mariam Yasmin Garsin will face Anna Christine Patrimonio and Bambi Zoleta in the first round of the professional women’s category on Saturday. Other categories are pro men and mixed and amateur men, women and mixed.
“I’ll do my best and make our country proud again,” said Tan, currently No. 2 in the APPT rankings.
Last year, Tan teamed up with 10-time Philippine Columbian Associaton (PCA) Open tennis champion Marian Capadocia to win the APPT in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) in December. They also bagged the silver medal in the inaugural Asia Pacific Padel Cup in Bali (Indonesia) in September.
Patrimonio, daughter of PBA player Alvin Patrimonio, played for the multi-titled National University tennis team in the UAAP while Zoleta has won many medals as a member of the Philippine soft tennis squad.
“I expect a tough match, so I just have to be prepared,” said Zoleta in an interview on Friday. She reached the semifinal in Phuket (Thailand) and the quarterfinal in Bali (Indonesia) and Hong Kong last year.
“This is another sport which I want to be good at. I’m determined to improve my skills in padel, same with pickleball, so I have to train a lot,” added Zoleta, whose elder sister Bien is the country’s top soft tennis player.
The Manila Open was formally launched on Thursday in a press conference attended by Tan, APPT president Carlos Carillo and director David Maxwell, Padel Pilipinas executive director Atty. Jacqueline Gan, Joma export area manager Xueting Ye, national team head coach Bryan Joshua Casao and team captain Argil Lance “LA” Cañizares.
Around 100 teams from 25 countries are joining the event offering USD2,000 to the winners in the men’s and women’s division of the pro category.
After the Manila Open is the Batangas Open scheduled Feb. 28 to March 2 at the Palm Beach Resort in San Juan.
Meanwhile, the APPT also announced its partnership with Joma, a renowned global sportswear and equipment brand based in Spain, as official sponsor.
Padel Pilipinas, headed by Senator Pia Cayetano, is recognized by both Philippine Olympic Committee and Philippine Sports Commission. It has organized an Open event participated by 170 players from 108 teams last year.
Padel is a racket sport of Mexican origin. It is a mix between tennis and squash and usually played in doubles on an enclosed court surrounded by walls of glass and metallic mesh. (PNA)