Imperial, Tormis secure PH table tennis spots for 32nd SEA Games

(CNN Philippines, March 2) — Edouard Imperial and Eljey Tormis have booked their respective spots for the country in the 32nd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games following their outstanding performance in the Philippine Table Tennis Federation Inc. (PTTF) National Selection 2023 in Puerto Princesa recently.

Imperial and Tormis were the top performers in the meet as they are set to make their national team debut.

Kheith Rhynne Cruz, Angelou Joyce Lauden, Rose Jean Fadol, and Sendrina Andrea Balatbat also clinched spots for the biennial meet which will take place in Cambodia in May.

Richard Gonzales and John Russel Misal are already seeded in the national team after winning silver in the doubles competition of the 31st SEA Games in Vietnam, while Jann Mari Nayre and Emy Rose Dael are also seeded and currently training in Europe.

Imperial punched his ticket after finishing with a 9-1 win-loss record in the third and final round of the selection, while the 19-year-old Tormis came second with an 8-2 slate.

The National Selection started with 31 players in the men’s division and 30 in the women’s category. They played in a single round-robin with the group winners advancing to the next round.

“We are satisfied with the results. It was a well-run event. Thank you again to Mayor Bayron and Puerto Princesa for hosting this event and we are looking forward to staging more table tennis events here in Puerto Princesa in the future,” PTTF president Ting Ledesma said.

“Based from the results here, I think this will be the deepest team ever that we'll send to the SEA Games. Hopefully, this team will produce the elusive gold medal that we're chasing in table tennis,” PTTF secretary general Pong Ducanes added.