Thailand’s Luksika Kumkhum overwhelmed Clarice Patrimonio, 6-0, 6-1, to capture the women’s tennis singles gold medal at the close of the 29th Southeast Asian Games tennis competition at the National Tennis Centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Saturday afternoon.
After a two-hour delay caused by rain, Kumkhum, once ranked number 85 in the world, needed just 48 minutes in dispatching the jittery Patrimonio on the center court of the facility, located at the heart of the Malaysian capital.
“Medyo ninerbiyos po ako sa dami ng tao. Pero masaya na rin dahil naka-silver,” said former UAAP Most Valuable Player who is in her final year with National University.
“I will try to do better in the 2019 SEA Games,” added the unseeded 23-year-old, who advanced to finals after vanquishing Cambodian fourth seed Andrea Ka, 7-6 (6-5), 7-6 (6-5), in the semifinals last Friday.
It was her first individual silver medal in three SEA Games outings after sharing the women’s team silver in the 2015 Singapore SEA Games.
“You have to hand it to Clarice, she played well the whole week but the Thai was just too strong,” noted coach Cris Cuarto.
Ruben Gonzales and Francis Casey Alcantara netted the Philippine squad’s other silver medal in men’s doubles, while the Filipino bets also had a pair of bronze medals in the mixed doubles through Gonzales and Denise Dy and the women’s doubles from Dy and Fil-German Katharina Lehnert.
Their output was lower compared to the one gold, three silvers, and three bronze medals they had taken home from Singapore two years ago.
