PHL figure skaters return from Hong Kong

Front row from left, Charmaine Skye Chua, Veronica Claire Eid, Kate Orrock and Skye Frances Patenia. Back row from left are coaches Abraham Domdom, Al Marinas and Noel Anthony Nerida. (PHOTO BY SKYE CHUA)

MANILA, Aug. 8— Four of the country’s promising junior figure skaters have returned to the country on Sunday after competing in the 2017 Asian Open Figure Skating Trophy competition in Hong Kong.

Skye Frances Patenia had the best finish in the four-day event, placing seventh with a score of 29.48 points in the Basic Novice B Girls category in the competition held at the Megabox skating rink in Kwun Tong.

Veronica Clare Eid was 14th (25.19 points) and Kate Orrock was 16th (21.00 points) in the Basic Novice A Girls category while Charmaine Skye Chua was 18th overall (55.81 points) in the Advanced Novice Girls category.

The four athletes were accompanied by coaches Abraham Domdom, Al Marinas and Noel Anthony Nerida.

“We had expected the tournament to be very tough. We did our best,” said the 14-year-old Chua, a Grade 8 student at Saint Jude Catholic School, in an interview on Monday night.

The best skaters from Japan, South Korea, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Kazakhstan, Australia, New Zealand, India and host Hong Kong also participated in the tournament sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU) and the Asian Skating Union (ASU).

Chua, Orrock and Patenia are medallists in the South East Asian (SEA) Figure Skating Challenge held at the SM Seaside City skating rink in Cebu last June. Chua bagged the gold medal and Patenia took the bronze medal in the Basic Novice B category while Orrock ruled the Basic Novice A category.

The tournament in Cebu City was the third leg of the SEA Challenge. The first leg was held from December 2-4, 2016 in Bangkok, Thailand where Chua won the silver.

Chua, who has been a member of the Metro Ice Club since she was nine years old, won the gold medal in the second leg held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from April 13-15, 2017.

She is also a gold winner in the Freestyle Level 1 category in the 2012 Skate Asia tournament.

Orrock won the gold medal in the Basic Pre Novice category in the 2015 Asian Junior Figure Skating Challenge in Hong Kong.

Eid (Pre Juvenile Primary) and Patenia (Basic Novice A) are medal winners in the 2015 Philippine National Figure Skating Championships in Pasay City.