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[Admin_Jong]

Taino gives RP good start in tennis

ERIC Taino gave the Philippines a good start in the men’s team competition in tennis at the 2006 Doha Asian Games, when he defeated Kuwait’s Abdullah Maqdas in three sets in the opening singles match at the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex yesterday.

Taino, the Fil-Am lefty, who usually takes time to get into the rhythm of his game, dropped the first set, 3-6, but stormed back to take the second set by an identical 6-3 score to set up a deciding third set.

With his game in full swing, Taino, whose best rated win this year was a straight-sets win over Rik de Voest in the Round of 32 in Dallas last Feb. 6, hardly gave Maqdas a chance in the third set, racing to a comfortable 6-2 victory.

The Philippines’ no.1 netter Cecil Mamiit, however, failed to follow suit as he dropped a close 5-7, 6-7 decision to Kuwait’s Mohammed Ghareeb in the second singles.

After Taino tied the score at 3-3 in the first set, Maqdas, playing some fine tennis, won the next two games to make it 5-3 before breaking the Fil-Am’s serve to take the opening set, 6-3. But with three breaks of serve in the second set Taino took the initiative with a 6-3 comeback.

The third set was all Taino, who raced to victory with some solid tennis from a 2-2 count to win the set, 6-2, behind three service breaks, eight forehand and three backhand winners, although he committed seven unforced errors in a match that lasted one hour and 41 minutes. Ronnie Nathanielsz

Source: http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=sports4_dec5_2006


BTW, you can post your opinions and other news bout RP tennis team playing in QATAR

Peace!

[SLP888]

I think mamiit got 2 bronzes, individual singles and doubles with Taino. hope they can still represents Philippines next year. Congratulations!!!

[coco]

Would be better if Tierro, Arcilla, Dandan or your favorite Nino would be, by the next Asian Games, the best bets of the Philippines.

[luxilionwave]

Who's really got the next best potential to replace Mamiit and Taino among the locals? Do you guys think that Barte, Dandan, Alcantara, Olivarez or Tan Ho got it? IMO, I haven't seen any locals to even surpass or equal Barrientos, So and Tolentino. I remember those times when Barrientos, Del Rosario, and Tolentino were already winning men's Open by 16years old or even playing Davis Cup, by  then everyone knew those guys have it.
Among the FilaAms, there's a 14 year old  kid named Raymond Sarmiento from Glendale, Ca. This kid is good. He won a few USTA National tournaments and also a few World junior under 14 championship in London and in France. Sadly, though he would represent US. 
None of the locals' results have been impressive yet. But give them time and support and  probably they will prove us wrong.

[Mapuan]

that was the 80's at hindi pa talaga developed ang sport na to especially in eastern europe at asian countries. mas competetive ngayon.

going back to doha, kala ko talaga matatalo ni denise kahit isang set si tammy. that was close.

raymond sarmiento isn't really doing great in the ift circuit (18U). hanggang second round or third round lang sya. at least nino made it through semis.

[coco]

The Filams would really have the edge because of the competition there. Problem is, if you keep using Filams, that would be discouraging to local players. Anyway, that's why I said hopefully locals would be our best bet, meaning that they'd be ranked higher than Filams or at least be somewhere around their rankings. It costs a lot to travel and train abroad.  If tennis were only like golf where you only play against yourself and the course and where you don't really need speed and stamina. How you play would not depend as much as on who you are playing against. Its hard to get used to big serves and powerful groundies when you don't encounter them when playing here. Hopefully, Tierro would do well in the pro circuit and Dandan, when he's over high school, would be able to train better.

[SLP888]

FilAms are advantage due to the top competation,I'ts true. That's why the problem is how to create an invironment that could produce top players. We should cooperate to solve this problem in order to produce good and competative players.

[luxilionwave]

that was the 80's at hindi pa talaga developed ang sport na to especially in eastern europe at asian countries. mas competetive ngayon.

This is a highly subjective . Actually, tennis in the 80's was very competitive. There was a study done by the USTA and ITF that  tennis was actually more popular those days. There were less sports to attract youngsters unlike the resurgence of newer sports,(extreme games, X games etc.....) Tennis was already developed in Eastern Europe , as evidence by the likes of Lendl, Navratilova,Mandlikova,Hanika etc...)  What is more developed now are the equipments  but not necessarily skills, talent and court intelligence. 

going back to doha, kala ko talaga matatalo ni denise kahit isang set si tammy. that was close.
raymond sarmiento isn't really doing great in the ift circuit (18U). hanggang second round or third round lang sya. at least nino made it through semis.

Level 4 and 5 ITF tournaments in North America is far different than the level 4 or 5 ITF tournaments in South East Asia.
A lot of lower ranked European and American junior tennis players go to our region because of the ease of entry thereby ease of accummulation of points.