Teams Red and Green roared to a flying start to open the NCB 2012 Summer Tennis Tournament at the NCB Sports Compound here. While Team Red prevailed over Team Blue 2 sets to 1 (16 points all), Team Green dumping Team Orange at 2-0 (16-8 points). Team Red sits atop team standings 27 points. It bagged 11 more points from its match held March 5 against Team Yellow. Team Green sits second, but has to play its 2nd match, with 16 overall points from 2 sets won in one match. Team Blue bagged 16 points with 1 set won in one match for the 3rd spot. Team Orange and Team Yellow rounded up the five-team competition. During the opening night's match, Team Red's captain Manie Dela Cruz and partner Edmund Nicolas kept their cool despite trailing most of the way, only to come from behind at 2-5 and 4-6 to shove past its opponents, Rene Palad/Wael Mirza of Team Blue, to take the lead at 7-6. They won the match 6-8. In the second doubles, Cesar Quilenderino and Jamael Diampuan carried on the Team Red's winning ways, beating Team Blue's Mario Calderon/Richmond Gulle 8-2. Team Red lost the third set as its third doubles team could not make it to the ground on time. The tournament is being organized by Sohail Alhafez as chairman, and comprises other NCB employees as tournament directors: Adan Republika, Ahmed Al-Sakkah, Jun Alunday, Manie Dela Cruz, Marlon Regala, and Rene Palad. In the Team Green versus Team Orange encounter, Niveen Pinto/Dindo Martin flayed Chris Vega Jr./Abdulrauf Al-Khanji of Team Orange to score an 8-2 win. In the second doubles, Team Green's Ahmed Al-Sakka and Hani Kordi engaged in a see-saw battle against Adan Republika/Tony Ong of Team Orange, to finally prevail at 8-6 for Team Green's 2-0 sets win. Team Red sustained its slim lead in the standing by beating the Yellow Team in their 2nd match. In the singles played March 1, Jamael Diampuan asserted his authority in the game over Omar Yassine with a comfortable 8-2 win. Chris Vega Jr. also came through past Ahmed Al-Sakkah 8-6. In the third singles match, Abdullah Bankhar won 8-0 by default against Abdullah Bahattab.
