ROBERT Garcia and David William Peliño sustained their winning ways over the weekend, subduing the upset-conscious Indon pair of Agung Wilant and Haris Nurkhakimbuwana 11-5, 10-12, 11-7 to capture the 1st Philippine Jumbo Doubles Championship crown at the PSA National Training Center inside the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.
After losing their focus and lapsing into errors in the second set, Garcia and Peliño finished with a flourish to secure the match in 55 minutes of play and bag their second international jumbo doubles title in a week.
They played in front of a small but animated hometown crowd fresh from ruling the 2rd International Jumble Doubles for the President’s Cup held the previous weekend at the Tanglin Club in Singapore.
“Medyo na lost ‘yung focus namin sa second set kaya nag-lapse kami into errrors. I think naging overconfident kami after winning the first set easily,” noted the veteran Garcia, 32, of their second-set loss.
“‘Yun po ang naging problema namin sa second. Nawalan kami ng concentration at nag-gain ng confidence ‘yung mga kalaban namin,” said Peliño, who scored critical points in the third set with his wily drop shots.
Both veteran mainstays of Kayod Pilipinas, the moniker of the national squash team, the duo said they will be gunning for their third jumbo title at the Thailand Open in play.
“The match was nerve-wracking and for a while I had my doubts but Robert and David pulled through after they lost the second set so I am very proud how they won in the end,” noted Philippine Squash Academy president Robert Bachmann.
He was also pleased with the turnout in the first international meet held at the PSA National Training center built and funded by the Philippine Sports Commission during the term of PSC chairman Butch Ramirez and now under the helm of younger brother Dickie Bachmann.
Players from Indonesia, Malaysia, US, Singapore and the United Kingdom saw action in the competition that also coincided with the 1st Philippine Masters Invitational for players aged 40 and above.
Bachmann said next up on the PSA schedule will be the three-day national team tryouts for the Asian Squash Championships in Hong Kong in June and the Hangzhou Asian Games in September.
