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By Emil C. Noguera, Correspondent
FIL-AMERICANS Cecil Mamiit and Eric Taino will
jumpstart the country’s bid against Japan in the Asia-Oceania
Davis Cup Group 1 tie Friday at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.
The Philippines’ No. 1 Mamiit takes on
Japan’s No. 2 Takao Suzuki at 1 p.m. right after the opening game
match at 10 a.m. between Taino and world’s No. 201 Go Soeda.
US-born Patrick John Tierro and Johnny Arcilla
have been nominated to play in the doubles against Suzuki and
long-time partner Satoshi Iwabuchi while the reverse singles on
Sunday will pit Mamiit against Soeda and Taino against Suzuki.
“Our players are 100-percent ready to take the
challenge. We are hoping that our countrymen will support our team
just like what they did in the 2005 Manila SEA Games when we won the
overall championship,” said non-playing team captain Martin Misa
during the draw Thursday at the Century Park Hotel.
Besides the players and officials from both
teams, also gracing the affair were Rep. Monico Puentevella,
International Tennis Federation referee Nitin Kannawar of India,
Japanese team of delegation and former tennis great Koji Watanabe
and Philippine Tennis Association officials Julito Villanueva,
Salvador Andrada and Romeo Magat.
Mamiit, the two-time SEAG singles champion,
hopes to sustain his impressive 13-0 record in the Davis Cup. He won
nine singles and four doubles matches since joining the team in
2005.
“We’ve been looking forward to this tie
after the SEAG. I think that we have a good chance,” said the
31-year-old Mamiit, who is 1-1 against the world’s No. 236 Suzuki.
The Los Angeles-based Mamiit, ranked No. 496 in
the world, beat Suzuki, 6-7, 6-3, 6-2, in California in 1998 but the
Japanese won 6-4, 6-3, two years after in Quebec, Canada.
Taino, on the other hand, holds a 1-0 advantage
over the 23-year-old Go. He beat the Japanese, 6-2, 7-5, in Auburn,
California, in 2005.
Japan team captain Eiji Takeuchi, a former Davis
Cupper, is optimistic on their chances.
“Our players train too hard. We’re ready,”
said the 48-year-old Takeuchi, who was the coach of the team which
played at the Philippine Columbian Association in 1996.
Japan, which is 15-9 against the Philippines in
their head-to-head record, advanced into the World Group playoff
after beating China (4-1) and Thailand (5-0) last year.
The Philippines, on the other hand, was promoted
to Group 1 after posting victories over Pakistan (4-1), New Zealand
(4-1) and Kuwait (5-0) last year.
The winner in this tie will face the winner
between India and Uzbekistan from April 11 to 13.
The Philippines first competed in the
prestigious Zonal event in 1921 and had played for 54 years. It won
64 of 118 ties in more than five decades of action.
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