JONATHAN Reyes played a pivotal as Kayod Pilipinas, the national squash team, won two gold medals in the 9th Southeast Asian Cup Squash championships at the Vajiravudh College in Bangkok, Thailand.
Jonathan Reyes first teamed up with Christopher Buraga to handily beat Ethan Ming Rui Kuan and Yuan Xin Li of Singapore 11-9, 11-0 for the Under-21 men’s doubles gold in 36 minutes of play.
Not finished with his heroics, Reyes then combined with Aerra JC Mae Arellano in subduing the strong Malaysian tandem of Harith Danial and Annie Goh 11-8, 8-11, 11-7 to wrap up the mixed Under-21 jumbo doubles mint in 79 minutes of action.
Top female squash player Jemyca Aribado settled for the silver after falling to Singapore’s Wai Yhan Au Yeong 6-11, 7-11 and 11-13 in under an hour in the women’s singles finals last Wednesday.
Adding a bronze to the Nationals’ collection was Reymark Begornia, who took a 3-11, 0-11 and 1-11 beating in the men’s singles semifinals to Singaporean top seed Duncan Lee, who went on to rule the event in vanquishing Danial 11-6, 11-3, 11-4 in the finals.
“That our young squash players were able to emerge victorious is a good sign that we have a thriving program under Malaysian coach Wee Wern Low and bodes well for our sport’s future in the country,” said Philippine Squash Academy executive director Rober Bachman from the Thai capital.
Bachmann was also re-elected as the Southeast Asian Squash Federation president during the federation’s general assembly meeting.
