Tolentino represented his native country at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles,[2] where he was defeated in the first round by the United States' Eric Amend.
[3] In 1982, Tolentino clinched the men's single title at the Philippine Columbian Association Open at age 16 over 28-year old Ody Gabriel.
This made Tolentino the winner who had the widest age gap with their final opponent of 12 years.
This record would be broken by 18-year old Bryan Otico who won a PCA Open title against an opponent 14 years older than himself.
[5] Tolentino also became the youngest PCA Open champion, a record broken by Alberto Lim Jr. in 2015 by two months.