Gonzales-Valle pairing gets tablenet gold quest going

SINGAPORE—Richard Gonzales and Rodel Valle engineered a refreshing win in table tennis Monday which they hope to translate into a gold medal at the 28th Southeast Asian Games here.

The bronze-medal duo of the 2011 Palembang Games was just too crafty, too resilient for Malaysians Leong Chee Feng and Wong Chun Cheun for a convincing 11-5, 8-11, 11-6, 11-7 men’s doubles victory at Singapore Indoor Stadium.

“They’re tough and competent, but we got the breaks in the last two sets,” said Valle, a Quezon City policeman who grew up in Lambunao, Iloilo.

“We haven’t played these guys before and we don’t want to take chances,” said Gonzales after they gifted Team Philippines with its first win in these Games.

The win set up the Filipinos against Singaporeans Chen Feng and Chew Zhe Yu in the quarterfinals. Chen and Chew defeated Indonesians Gilang Ramadhan and Ficky Santoso, 11-2, 12-14, 11-4, 11-7.

Gonzales also won his opening game in men’s singles, a methodical 11-2, 11-4, 11-4 decision of Thavisack Phathaphone of Laos.

Up next for the 44-year-old Cebuano is Indonesia’s Ficky Santoso, who foiled Malaysia’s Muhamad Muhamad, 11-9, 11-6, 12-10.

“Singapore is hands down the strongest in this sport,” said Gonzales, who landed a singles silver medal in the 2005 Manila Games.

The host country had swept all five golds at stake in table tennis back in 2011.

Ian Lariba and Sendrina Balatbat weren’t as fortunate in women’s doubles earlier in the day, dropping a marathon 11-6, 13-15, 12-10, 8-11, 6-11 decision to Indonesia’s Kharisma Nur Hawwa and Gustin Dwijayanti.