By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Two of the country’s most-decorated national tennis players urged various PH tennis organizations and local officials to step-up after the International Tennis Federation (ITF) suspended the Philippine Tennis Association (PTA) for two years.
National team staples Treat Huey and Johnny Arcilla aired their sides amid the controversy and shared that they together with their teammates will suffer the most with the suspension slapped to PHILTA.
“I have heard rumors about the ITF suspending Philta. If my fellow players are barred from the Davis Cup and other international team competitions, it would be a huge blow to our livelihood in an already trying time,” said Huey.
ITF President David Haggerty designated PHILTA as “exclusive membership base” which disqualifies them of being a national sporting federation.
The ITF also recognized that PHILTA is not comprised of regional representatives of different sporting organizations, a violation under ITF.
One factor that also intensified ITF’s ruling on PHILTA was their failure of beating the deadline regarding the passing of reportorial requirements.
“My ultimate hope is to have a unified and a more efficiently-run organization that will ensure that all the tennis players in the country will be properly taken care of. I just want to have the chance to be able to get back to competing again, after a crazy 2020,” added Huey.
PHILTA also wasn’t able to figure out a way to give the ITF plans for amending the constitution to increase memberships.
“Kailangan ayusin agad ng Philta itong gusot na ito, make positive changes for the betterment of Philippine tennis by instituting programs for national athletes. Kawawa kaming mga players especially the national team players ang upcoming junior players na apektado nitong suspension na ‘to,” said Philippine team member Johnny Arcilla.
