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JEDDAH: The finals during the weekend in the 8th Albaik Tennis Challenge 2016 were marked by upsets in various categories with defending champions and group leaders toppled.
Defending champions in Category Lower Mix and B2, Uricane Tennis Club (UTC), were dislodged by new challengers SGS Tennis Racquet Club (SGSTRC) and Hidada Tennis Club (HTC) respectively.
In the Lower Mix category (combination of B2/C players), SGS scored a huge upset against UTC, erstwhile undefeated and group leader with a 5-0 win-loss record in the elimination rounds. SGS exacted revenge in the finals for its narrow 1-to-3 set loss against UTC in the round-robin phase, registering a big 8-point advantage after three sets, courtesy of its tandems of Rey Tablang-Nelson Ramos and Romeo Porras-Neil Sta. Clara scoring 8-3 and 8-4 respectively, thus needing only 1 point in the 4th and final set to seal the championship crown for SGSTRC.
UTC suffered another painful setback when it lost in straight sets 8-5, 8-4, 8-4 against Hidada team, powered by veterans Jun Ordonez-Joel Chan in the first set, Andrew Villan-Jojo Magdamo in the second, and Macoy Hernandez-Ryan Bonquiren in this third set to clinch the championship trophy in category B2.
Jeddah Ranao Tennis Club (JRTC), meanwhile, took the championship titles in the other categories, B1-Mix and C. JRTC scored another upset win trouncing erstwhile front-runner and unbeaten ASTEC-Deltaz Marketing team, to whom they lost via super-tie break (2/24 – 2/24) during the elimination rounds, and captured the top-prize in this team competition.
In the other finals match, Saudia City Tennis Club (SCTC) blasted the challenge of Elaf Group to claim the championship in the Middle Mix (B1/B2 combination) category in straight sets victory (8-5, 8-3, 8-5). SCTC’s pair of Sammy Tomalondog-Allan Bandilao started off strongly in the first set, followed by the tandems of Von Daligdig-Michael Landrito and Ricky Delgado-Ramil Abdua.
After 40 days of intense competition among the various tennis clubs in Jeddah, ASTEC concluded its 29th tennis tournament, which attracted 48 teams in both men’s and ladies divisions. The tournament was held daily and used all four tennis court facilities of Trio-Ranch Country Club from Oct. 1 to Nov. 11.
Organized by ASTEC under Chairman Bernie Soguilon, Tournament Director Marlon Delfin, Francis Idjao and Jun Atienza as advisers, this 8th Albaik tennis event is presented yearly in partnership with Albaik Food Systems Inc., and is supported by Deltaz Marketing, Sky Freight Forwarders, Sports Track, and Qatar Airways.