In the return of soft tennis to the Southeast Asian Games, a Filipina made sure to win gold.
Noelle Mañalac claimed top honors in the women’s individual soft tennis event at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center, Saturday.
The 30-year-old Mañalac bested Anadeleyda Kawengian of Indonesia, 1-0, in the final round to cap off an unbeaten run.
Mañalac opened her SEA Games campaign with a convincing 1-0 result over Phonesamai Champamanivong of Laos. She then followed it up with another 1-0 victory against Cambodia’s Mariyan Meth to enter the gold medal round.
The last time the sport was played in the biennial meet was back in 2011. Then, the Philippines finished with a silver and five bronzes.
Meanwhile, Philippines’ Princess Catindig received consecutive losses at the hands of Kawengian and Dares Srirungrean of Thailand.
Catindig ended her campaign with a 0-2 win-loss slate.
