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Team Joola in hot start at Flexible Cup table tennis tourney

By Jean Malanum

February 15, 2019, 7:23 pm

<p><strong>TOP BET.</strong> John Russell Misal in action during a demonstration game after the opening ceremony of the 9th Flexible Cup International Table Tennis Championships at the Harrison Plaza Activity Center on Friday (Feb. 15, 2019). Looking on are (L-R) Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission head Greco Belgica, Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Commissioner Charles Maxey, Table Tennis Association for National Development (TATAND) founder Charlie Lim. <em>(PNA photo by Jess Escaros)</em></p>

TOP BET. John Russell Misal in action during a demonstration game after the opening ceremony of the 9th Flexible Cup International Table Tennis Championships at the Harrison Plaza Activity Center on Friday (Feb. 15, 2019). Looking on are (L-R) Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission head Greco Belgica, Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Commissioner Charles Maxey, Table Tennis Association for National Development (TATAND) founder Charlie Lim. (PNA photo by Jess Escaros)

MANILA -- World Championship campaigner John Russell Misal led Joola to a 3-0 victory over University of Santo Tomas-2 in the men's team Open event of the 9th Flexible Cup International Table Tennis Championships, which kicked off at the Harrison Plaza Activity Center in Malate, Manila on Friday.

The 22-year-old Misal defeated Nico Nayre, 11-7, 11-9, 11-9 in the first match while Chen Lei Xin won over Reymart Mabuang, 11-2, 11-4, 11-5 in the second match. Alexis Bolante also won his match against Carl Victorio, 11-6, 11-4, 11-8.

“I'm happy to win. Nico also played well, we met many times in the UAAP," said Misal, who was named Rookie of the Year (2013) and Most Valuable Player (2017) while playing for the National University.

Misal, who was born and raised in Toril, Davao City, made headlines when the Briton Ashley Stokes reached the round-of-16 at the prestigious World Championship of Pingpong held in London, England on January 26-27. He also trained in Shengdeng, China last November.

The other members of the Joola team are Jong Ortalla and Charlie Lim, who is the founder of Table Tennis Association for National Development (TATAND), the organizer of the 9th Flexible Cup as part of the association's grassroots development program.

Aside from Joola and UST-2, also bracketed in Group C are Malaysia and Fleet Marine. Indonesia, Philippine Army, Baker Studio and Trudel-UST are in Group A, University of Taipei, Green Paddle, UST-1 and Omila Sports Academy are in Group B while Chinese Taipei, Hua Ching, Crime Lab-Altruists and Jade Dragon are in Group D.

The top two teams in each group will advance to the second stage of the three-day tournament which offers PHP50,000 to the overall team champion and PHP10,000 to the men's and women's singles champions.

Philip Chan, vice president for operations of Flexible Packaging Corp., said his family is happy to be a part of the tournament.

"Our family has been supporting sports in years. We need this kind of tournament to train our players and encourage the youth to get into sports," Chan said after the opening ceremony, which was attended by Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission head Grego Belgica and Philippine Sports Commission Commissioner Charles Maxey.

More than 400 players are seeing action in the high school, collegiate and Open divisions of the Flexible Cup. Those who will top their respective events will be included in the delegation, which TATAND will send to China for a sports exchange program. (PNA)

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