The Accountancy (ACC) Griffins secured the championship title in the Table Tennis Men’s singles category, while the Business and Management (B&M) Vipers seized gold in the doubles category after a tight match against the School of Engineering and Architecture (SEA) Tigers.

ACC Griffins’ Zander Tumanday took the first game of the finals round with a score of 19-17, but was edged out by School of Education Sharks’ Jethro Lambojon 6-11 in the second game.

He bounced back with victories of 11-7 and 11-6 before Lambojon countered with a 4-11 win in the fourth game.

In a thrilling final round, Tumanday sealed the title with an 11-4 score.

In an interview with Atenews, the ACC Griffin shared that securing the victory was very fulfilling despite knowing that he was originally a volleyball player, and just recently went back to playing table tennis.

“Yung mga strategies is yung reflex and utak, since in volleyball you really have to use your brain…What helped me the most is my experience in table tennis and support of my companions.” 

In the doubles category, the finals began with a close fight between BM Vipers’ Jaydee Grapa and Kendrick Pelayo and SEA Tigers’ Giorgo Baysa and Duane Mathieu Batad.

SEA won the first game 11-7, but BM equalized with a 9-11 victory in the second game. SEA reclaimed the lead with an 11-9 win in the third game, only for BM to surge ahead with a 12-14 win in the fourth. In the fifth round, SEA made a comeback with a score of 11-4. 

Finally, BM triumphed in the last two games with scores of 9-11 and 7-11 to claim the championship.

Despite time restrictions due to unmatched schedules, and many challenges they faced, the champions still managed to have four sessions of training to get to the top. 

“The preparations that we only followed was the advice from our teammates who were varsity [players] who cannot join the game… We still managed to win the game despite having technical difficulties in assessing the opponent’s weaknesses”, Grapa said.

BM Vipers’ Kyle Caldoza won bronze in the singles category, while the ACC Griffins’ Timothy Mark Tay and Celwin Jay Alidon secured bronze in the doubles category.

The event was held on September 15 at the 6th Floor of Martin Hall.