JOHN MARI “JANN” NAYRE and Rose Jean Fadol intensified their drive in the World Table Tennis Singles Olympic qualifying tournament by beating their respective opponents in Doha, Qatar, on Sunday night.
Nayre and Fadol thus moved closer of becoming the country’s second and third Filipino table tennis Olympians after the late Ian “Yanyan” Lariba, who competed in the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Games.
Nayre, a veteran of 2018 World Youth Olympic Games in Argentina, beat Daniels Kogans of Latvia, 11-4, 8-11, 11-9, 11-4, 11-2, before closing out Sunday’s program with a 7-11, 11-8, 5-11, 11-7, 5-11, 11-3, 11-9 victory over world No. 68 Lubomir Pistej of Slovakia.
Fadol, who played in the 2019 30th Southeast Asian Games, beat Qatari Aia Mohamed, 11-6, 11-6, 11-3, 11-5, in the round-of-16 and upset No. 71 Italian Deborah Viverelli, 11-6, 11-9, 11-9, 7-11, 5-11, 8-11, 11-9, to enter the women’s semifinals.
“Courage and skills were given by God during those wins. The players gave their very best,” national coach Annabelle Comendador told BusinessMirror via overseas call on Monday. “We have a good chance of making it to the Olympics.”
Nayre played against Niagol Stoyanov of Italy in the men’s quarterfinals while Fadol faced Ukrainian world No. 32 Margaryta Pesotska in he semifinals late Monday.
Nayre and Fadol must top their brackets to earn tickets to the Tokyo Olympics.
Five Olympic slots—from the total of 60—are at stake in the women’s division, while four—out of 73 berths—are up for grabs in the men’s competitions in Doha.
Two other Filipino bets are also in Doha, but Russell Misal lost to Bence Majoros of Hungary, 5-11, 8-11, 8-11, 11-9, 7-11, in the men’s round-of-16, while Jannah Romero bowed to Serbian Sabina Surjan, 8-11, 8-11, 8-11, 11-9, 4-11, also in the women’s round-of-16.
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