WITH inclusion of two national masters in their lineup, the UST Lady Woodpushers are a lock to repeat as UAAP champions, at least on paper.
The Philippine team standouts Shercila and Sherily Cua are set to join Lady Woodpushers Romelin Guerra, Maria Zayrah de la Cruz, Geneline de Ramos, and Anabelle Garcia in their title-retention bid when the UAAP Season 69 Chess tournament opens in August.
The pressure is on the Cua sisters who will take on the mounting task of fueling UST’s bid for a back-to-back crown in light of the departure of senior team stalwarts Madeleine Abeleda and Danielle Day Estrada, the Season 68 board five gold medalist. Abeleda played out her UAAP years, while Estrada left the University for personal reasons.
“We are pressured to play extremely well because we will be pitted against fellow RP team members from other schools in order to defend the crown,” the 21-year-old Shercila told the Varsitarian.
Shercila, a silver medalist during the 2005 Southeast Asian Games, had represented UST for four years before taking a year off last season. The 2002 Most Valuable Player and 2004 board two champion did not suit up last year in order to play alongside her sister this season. A veteran of national chess meets, Shercila won second place in the National Women’s Open Chess Championship last year.
The younger Cua, Sherily, was part of the UP Fighting Maroons champion team in 2003. A conflict with her former coach drove the 19-year-old chesser away from the Diliman campus and into the Pontifical University in 2004. An incoming Education junior, Sherily is the reigning National Juniors Champion. She is the National Age Group championship for the last three years.
“We surely have a strong squad now that we have the Cua sisters,” said head coach and International Master Ronald Dableo, who had been anticipating the Cua connection since last year. “I could already see us defending the title.”
Shecila and Sherily will be competing in the three-week 37th World Chess Olympiad in Turin, Italy, from May 19 to June 5. Sherily and Shercila finished third and fifth, respectively, out of 70 woodpushers in the National Women’s Open Chess Championship last April.
The National Chess Federation of the Philippines selected the Cua sisters for the five-man Philippine contingent, who will be going head-to-head with chess masters from 140 countries.
“Our stint in the Olympiad will definitely prepare us for the UAAP,” Sherily said. Maria Jesamine D.G. Palarca
