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Fadol, Romero hope to follow Lariba’s feat

FILIPINA table tennis player Rose Jean Fadol missed her first shot at a Olympic berth after bowing to Ukraine’s Margaryta Pesotska, 11-4, 11-4, 11-3, 11-2, in the women’s semifinals of the World Singles Qualification Tournament on Monday at the Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiya Arena.

Despite the loss, the 26-year old Fadol still has a chance of making it to Tokyo in the ITTF-Asian Qualification Tournament which starts tomorrow also in Doha, the final qualification event for the coronavirus-stalled Olympics.

Fadol and Jannah Romero, the Philippines’ top-ranked player, are hoping to duplicate the feat of the late Ian Lariba in 2016.

Lariba qualified to the Rio Games after a succesful showing in the ITTF-Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament in Hong Kong five years ago.

The world No. 530 Fadol was simply overwhelmed by 32nd-ranked Pesotska’s solid plays.

Fadol, a product of Far Eastern University women’s table tennis program, earlier stunned Italy’s Deborah Vivarelli, 11-6, 11-9, 11-9, 7-11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-9, in the quarterfinals.

Another Filipino bet, Jann Mari Nayre, also bowed out of contention after losing to Italy’s Niagol Stoyanov in the men’s quarterfinals, 5-11, 4-11, 4-11, 11-8, 11-13.

Nayre, the country’s second-best men’s player, still has another opportunity to punch a ticket at the Tokyo Games together with John Russel Misal, in the Asian qualifiers beginning tomorrow.