May Pinoy sa Wimbledon

Cecil Mamiit, a Filipino-American tennis player and gold medalist in the Southeast Asian Games - Philippines 2005, enters the Gentlemen's Doubles event (not just the qualifying stage) of the 2006 Wimbledon Championships and for the first time carries the Tricolor as his banner (he used to play under the United States flag). He teams up with Korean-American Kevin Kim in facing the Thai tandem of Sanchai Ratiwatana and Sonchat Ratiwatana at the All England Club in London tonight (Manila time).

This 5'8" guy has not passed farther than the 2nd Round, for both singles and doubles, of any Grand Slam tournament since he turned pro in 1996. Fellow Fil-Am and SEA Games 2005 gold medalist Eric Taino, who failed to qualify for any event this year, has also decided to represent the Philippines from now on.

Good luck to our lone hope in lawn tennis... At least this time, our participation in Wimbledon exceeds that in Australian Open where our countrymen served only as ball catchers (ballkids).