Max Mirnyi of Belarus and Treat Huey of Philippines celebrte match point against John Isner and Nicholas Monroe during the Miami Open presented by Itau at Crandon Park Tennis Center on March 30, 2016 in Key Biscayne, Florida. Matthew Stockman/Getty Images/AFP
Treat Huey, the tennis doubles specialist who delivered multiple gold medals for the Philippines in the Southeast Asian Games, won’t defend his mixed doubles title with Denise Dy in the biennial Games slated next month in Kuala Lumpur.
Tom Carrasco, head of the Philippines’ SEA Games Task Force, confirmed the Filipino-American’s withdrawal Monday.
It marks the second straight time that Huey, ranked No. 22 in the world in men’s doubles, won’t play for the country, apparently in support of tennis patron Jean Henri Lhuillier and Philippine Tennis Association (Philta) vice president Randy Villanueva.
Huey also missed the Davis Cup in Bangkok two months ago.
Being eyed to replace the 31-year-old Davis Cup veteran in the nine-man PH tennis delegation is junior ace AJ Lim.
Lhuillier and Villanueva are embroiled in a leadership tug-of-war with the group of long-time tennis chief Buddy Andrada.
Meanwhile, a gold medal in the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games set September in Turkmenistan will be worth P2 million.