R.P. vs Taiwan in Davis Cup Tie July 9-11
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 02 Jul 2010
US Big-10 regular season campaigner Ruben Gonzales will beef up the Philippine Davis Cup team that will face Chinese Taipei in a Group I tie July 9-11 at the Yang-Ming Tennis Center in Kaoshiung.
The Terre Haute, Indiana-born Filipino-American, who has posted a 16-8 win-loss record in singles competitions and 12-7 in doubles while carrying the colors of Indiana University, will be joining regular campaigners and fellow-Fil-Ams Cecil Mamiit and Treat Conrad Huey and local boy Johnny Arcilla in the Cebuana Lhuillier-sponsored squad in the all-important match up against the Taiwanese.
RP Davis Cup team administrator Randy Villanueva yesterday said the tie against the Taiwanese is one the Filipinos cannot afford to lose. A loss move them on the brink of being dropped anew to Group II
?This is because if we lose, we will be relegated to battling the winner between Uzbekiztan and Korea if we hope to remain in Group I,? Villanueva told his audience in yesterday?s SCOOP Sa Kamayan weekly session at the Kamayan Restaurant-Padre Faura.
Another defeat at the hands of either the Koreans and Uzbeks will again drop us in the lower group which we don?t want to happen,? Villanueva said. ?So, if we don?t want that to happen, we really have to win at all cost.?
For the record, Villanueva revealed during the session, sponsored by PLDT and Fila Sports Apparel, the Philippines has a perfect 4-0 win-loss record against Taiwan the past Decade in Group I.
The team, captained by Mamiit, who along with Huey will be arriving here today, leaves Sunday.
Villanueva said that prospect of young talent Chen Lu, the guy who beat world-rated American Randy Rodick in the quarterfinal round of the on-going Wimbledon championship, reinforcing the Taiwanese, is very possible although his name is not list4ed in the lineup sent here by the organizers.
The Yonex-sponsored Taiwanese team, according to earlier message, is made up of Tsung-Hua Yang, Ti Chen, Chu-Huan Yi and Hsin-Han Lee, which according to Arcilla, already appears strong on papers.
?We will only know if he will be added to the lineup during the drawing of lots,? Villanueva said.
?But Chen or no Chen, I believe our boys have what it is to prevail,? Villanueva said, echoing the sentiment of team manager Jean Henri Lhuillier.
Lhuillier, also the president of the Amateur Softball Association of the Philippines, had earlier said: ?I am confident that the Cebuana Lhuillier Philippine Davis Cup team has what it takes to beat the Chinese Taipei Davis Cup team. I commend our players for the hard work they put into this tie and I believe that we can emerge victorious. It?s our goal to win for the country.?
Arcilla, for his part, said in the absence of Chen, the man to watch in the opposite team is Ti, who he said is familiar to him and his teammates having had the opportunity to play against him.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea.
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