The duo of Enrico Santos (AGS 83, AHS 87) and Albert Padua (AHS 87) proved
to be steadier as they thrashed Naresh Ramnani (AGS 83, AHS 87) and Jasen Ko
(College 91) 8-3 to win the inaugural Ateneo GS 1983, HS 1987 and College 1991
Tennis tournament at the Valle Verde Country Club tennis courts last Saturday March
9, 2024. The game is the culmination of
months of practice games that brought out around 15 batchmates that play tennis.
The day started with Claude de Jesus (AGS 83, AHS 87) and Dong Feliciano
(AGS 83, AHS 87 College 91) facing Naresh Ramnani and Jasen Ko. Nash set the
tone early with his powerful serves and excellent drop shots while Jasen was
steady with his veteran plays. Claude De
Jesus used his serve and volley prowess in the 6th game to steal a win from Ramnani and
Ko. In the 7th game, Dong
Feliciano hit a cross court shot for his best play of the match. The match
was highlighted by the dive of De Jesus to return a well- placed baseline shot
of Ko which resulted in a leg injury. Needless to say De Jesus was not in “Claude
9!” The score did not reflect the
quality of the match. the valiant effort of De Jesus could not overcome the
heady plays of Ramnani and Ko who won 8 – 1.
The second game was perhaps the one that had the 50,000 spectators on
their feet as Rico Santos and Albert Padua, together with alternate player Bong
Berbano (AGS 83, AHS 87) held off the hard fighting duo of Dudu Fernandez (AGS
83) and Buzzie Ona (AGS 83, AHS 87). Buzzie and Dudu started like a house on
fire by firing winning shots and claiming the first game of the match. Not to
be outdone, Rico and Bergus regrouped to win the next seven games as Rico took
control of the game by firing booming shots , impressive drop shots and his
superb all around game was the difference in the match. Buzzie and Dudu managed
to stay afloat as they both won back to back games with Dudu’s passing shot in
the 10th game got them closer to 3-7. But Bergus and Rico proved to
be too strong for them as they ended the match in the 11th game to win 8-3.
In the championship match, Nash and Jasen tried to create a strategy to
minimize Rico’s brilliance by attacking Bergus. Unfortunately for them, Bergus
delivered and even returned most of Nash’s booming serves. Rico and Bergus started the match with three straight wins and got on to a 3-0 lead to stamp their class. Nash and Jasen on the other hand
countered by winning back-to-back games and trailed their opponents by only one
2- 3. As the sixth game was played, Rico took matters into his own hands that
resulted in a four-game win streak with the highlight of the match coming from the
mean cross-court return of Bergus on the booming serve of Nash. Jasen and Nash
managed to snatch another game but was not enough as Team Bernas finally got
their last win 8-3 to claim the title.
The event was part of AGS 83, AHS 87 and College 91's push for better wellness of the
batch. Other players who were supposed to play but unfortunately did not make
it was Ermin Cariño, Mike Cabrera, Ed Silva and Pike Fernandez. We hope that this is the start for more games to come and tournaments this year. For our other batchmates,
we are calling you to join us in another one-day tournament next quarter. A fellowship
dinner followed after with other batchmates passing by, JR Rodil, Ernie
Batungbacal, Osler Fajardo, John Tanjangco, Fausto Fame Aquino and Manch Carpio
also dropped by. Thanks to Atty. Dong Feliciano for spearheading this Tennis
tournament. Cheers to the winners.
