TATAP Extension

JOSEF T. RAMOS

SIMPLY the best.

Nobody thought it would end up close.

Henberd Ortalla, the head coach of many-time UAAP champion Santo Tomas U, though, made sure the night belongs to the Philippine National Police (PNP) at the end of the first Philippine Table Tennis Championship team events.

Ortalla got two crucial victories – including the last match – to pilot the PNP-Butterfly squad to a nail-biting 3-2 win over the Julius Esposo-led Quezon City paddlers in the men’s team championship round at the Philsports Arena in Pasig.

2008 National Champs by Danilo Dividina

After Paul ‘the backhand killer’ Puentespina’s 12-10, 11-7, 5-11, 13-11 win over James Borleo, Ortalla came out aggressive in his first match against Joseph Cruz, scoring a close 11-8, 12-14, 11-9, 9-11, 13-11 win, to give PNP a 2-0 edge in the team event. Read the rest of this entry »

By Josef T. Ramos

TING Ledesma has taken it – the game – most of the time for fun.

This time in the just recent concluded 10th DONIC Chancellor’s Cup table tennis national invitational championship, Ledesma proved his worth when he captured the men’s open single’s battle of the champion title last April 3, 2008.

Ledesma showed flashes of backspins to score a stunning 11-9, 10-12, 11-8, 11-7 victory over Japhet Adaza to sweep all five matches in that single division at the University of the Philippines College of Human Kinetics in Diliman Quezon City.

“I’m not expecting to win this title because there are many players around,” said the 35-year-old Ledesma who is the president of the Metropolitan Table Tennis Association. “When I played in the championship, I just did what I needed to do.” Read the rest of this entry »