THE ATENEO de Manila University Athletics Office, in coordination with the University of the Philippines College of Human Kinetics, hosted this year’s Vicente Hao Chin Sr. Memorial Cup’s National Inter-Scholastic Table Tennis Championships on October 20–24 in the Blue Eagle Gym.
The five-day tourney featured several participating colleges and universities in the Philippines, in the presence of corporate representatives and enthusiasts of table tennis. The event aimed to commemorate the late Vicente Hao Chin Sr., whose ambition was to provide street children with good education. It is sustained by the Blue and Lady Paddlers through a table tennis clinic for out-of-school youth. The Hao Chin Cup became interscholastic on 2004.
Over P200,000 worth of prizes were given away to winners from the 18 events held in the competition organized by Athletics Office Head Ricky Palou and Coach Floyd Lobaton of the Ateneo table tennis team, the Blue and Lady Paddlers.
Vicente Hao Chin Jr., son of the celebrated philanthropist, opened the meet with a message for the participants.
“[It] is really not about the competition but excellence… It is becoming the best that you can be,” he said. After formally opening the tourney, hundreds of ping pong balls rained down on the competitors.
More than 500 participants were present in the event in an estimate given by Percival Elfan (IV BS Mgt), captain of the Blue Paddlers and a co-organizer of the event.
Dual Task
Aside from being hosts the second time around, Team Ateneo also took part in several of the events as contenders for the Cup.
John Pierre Jacinto (I BS Mgt) won third place in the Men’s Non-Rank Singles division in a game featuring several aggressive backhand hits and tactical plays. However, his contender quickly read the rookie’s plays and managed to counterattack, turning the game against the Blue and White’s favour.
Charmaine de Jesus (III AB Eco), former women’s team captain, bagged silver in the Women’s Non-Rank Singles division. Once the news came out that one of the competitors mistakenly played a round in the women’s non-rank group, one of her matches were bowed to a forfeit in her favor, qualifying her to compete against UP Diliman in the semi-finals and St. Martin Montessori for the gold.
The Lady Paddlers managed to win bronze for a team event even after submitting to a default loss against De La Salle University in a doubles match.
Despite the wealth of tedious tasks being this year’s co-hosts of the meet, Jacinto revealed that “even though there was a lot of responsibilities, a lot of paperwork, we still tried to win,” in Filipino. “[Hosting and playing] was really tiring,” said Women’s Team Captain Claire Yu (IV BS CoE). “but at the same time, fun and fulfilling.”
