Cruz eyes Paris Olympic table tennis berth

MANILA, Philippines – The country’s top woman table tennis player and three-time Southeast Asian Games campaigner Kheith Rhynne Cruz has trained her sights on next year’s Paris Olympics.

And with continuing support from both the government and private sector, Cruz's dream to become only the second Filipino table tennis Olympian might turn into reality.

"Our next target is to play in the Olympic qualifier, so coach Annabelle (Comendador) said I should practice hard and hopefully tuloy po yung makuha kong tulong," said Cruz during the Tabloids Organization in Philippine Sports Inc. (TOPS) “Usapang Sports” last Thursday at the PSC Conference Room in Malate, Manila.

Among the Olympic qualifiers scheduled for Grade 12 students of the Paco Citizen Academy Foundation is the US Open slated December 16-21 in Ontario, California.

"I am grateful to the people who are helping me, including Joola Philippines, TATAND and Sir Philip Uy, so that I can fulfill my dream of bringing honor to the country. If I'm lucky, I want to be able to play in the Olympics," said Cruz in the program sponsored by the Philippine Sports Commission, Behrouz Persian Cuisine, and Pocari Sweat.

Cruz wants to equal if not surpass the success of the late Ian “YanYan” Lariba, the only Filipino table tennis player who saw action in the quadrennial Games in 2016. Lariba is the youngest player at the age of 12 to become the Philippines No. 1 player. But at the age of 24, she succumbed to leukemia.

For her part, the 16-year-old Cruz just added to her list of accomplishments by winning the Under-19 women’s single class in the recently concluded World Table Tennis Youth Contender Championship in Puerto Princesa, Palawan. There, she defeated World Youth No. 15 Sally Moyland of the US, 11-9, 8- 11, 7-11, 11-6, 11-8.

They first faced each other in the 17-under class of the said tournament, where the seeded American prevailed.

"The fact that I lost to her in the 17-under was my motivation. During the game, I was leading the entire match but she was able to catch up. I told myself I could beat her because I had already dominated her, so when we played in the 19-under finals I didn't allow her to recover," said Cruz, the World junior Rank No. 153 in the program she shared with fellow guests, including younger brother Khevin, 12, legendary basketball agent-manager Danny Espiritu and Architect Reynaldo Punongbayan.

Prior to the world tilt, Cruz also won two gold medals in the Southeast Asian Youth Table Tennis Championship last June in Brunei.