Jann Mari Nayre and Rose Jean Fadol missed their first bus to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games after absorbing defeats in the latter rounds of the 2021 TTE World Singles Qualification Tournament held at the Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiya Arena in Doha, Qatar, Monday.
After his impressive marathon win against world No. 68 Lubomir Pistej of Slovenia, Nayre, a 2018 Youth Olympian, went into the day wanting to become the country’s first to be part of both the junior and senior edition of the Summer Games in the sport.
However, the 21-year-old Filipino succumbed against Italy’s Niagol Stoyanov in three straight games, 5-11, 4-11, 4-11, to dig a deep hole.
Nayre came back and got on the board in the following game at 11-8. He could not complete the upset against the Bulgaria-born Italian opponent, though, losing a close 11-13 fourth game.
On the other hand, a win from Fadol should have given herself a chance at an Olympic berth. However, the Far Eastern University alumna could not repeat the previous day’s stunner against world No. 32 Margaryta Pesotska.
The Ukrainian stamped her class over the Filipino top paddler in four straight games, 11-4, 11-4, 11-3, and 11-2.
Nonetheless, Nayre and Fadol, along with John Russel Misal and Jannah Romero still have a chance to get their tickets into the Olympics when they take on some of the finest Asian table tennis stars in the Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament, starting on March 18, also at the same venue.
