Top seeds Jewel Albo (boys’ division) and Anthea Gonzalez (girls’ division) showed that they are the best young shuttlers in the country on Wednesday.
Gonzalez went home with three gold medals, while Albo went home with two, to cap their campaign in the 2018 MVP Nationals Juniors Championship at the Powersmash Badminton Center in Makati City.
In his toughest outing in this tournament – backed by SMART Communications, MVP Sports Foundation, BaliPure, SMASH Pilipinas, Victor PCome Industrial Sales, J.Co Donuts, Prima Pasta, and Forthright Events & Sports Management Inc. – Albo had to go through the ringer in the Under-17 Finals. Even if he dropped his first set of the tournament against upset-seeking Lyrden Laborte, the second generation shuttler still managed to pick up a 21-15, 19-21, 21-16 win to secure his first gold of the day.
Albo could not bag the boys’ doubles gold, though, as he and Guillian Rodriguez succumbed to the pair of Johnyl Mialda and Nestojan Tapales, 11-21, 15-21.
Still, Albo remained focused in his final outing in the five-day meet. He and Gonzalez eked out a 15-21, 21-14, 21-15 triumph over Viana Antonio and Zed Monterubio to secure the mixed doubles U-17 crown.
Gonzalez, on the other hand, proved to be too dominant in her division. She blasted under-15 wunderkind Karyll Rio, 21-10, 21-15, to win the U17 singles title. Her partnership with Dana Navarro was golden as well, as they outlasted Christine Dorega and Clara Ignacio, 18-21, 21-16, 21-16, for her third gold in the U17 division.
In the other age brackets, Rey Angelo Pedron and Christian Dorega were crowned as the kings of the U15 and U13 division, respectively. Wijel Albo struck gold in the U11, while Jr Pullon won the U9 group.
Pedron and his partner Allen Penute stunned the highly-favored pair of Raydric Abinales and Ashton Prieto, 15-21, 21-16, 21-18 to win the Boys’ Doubles U15 crown. Ryan Bernal and Dorega went on to win the Boys’ Doubles championship.
For the distaffs’ side, Rio vented her ire on Patricia de Leon to win the U15 tiara, 11-21, 21-15, 21-10.
Andrea Hernandez and Rosheila Quierez bagged gold in the U15 and U13 divisions, respectively.
Rio secured her second gold as she and Munir Bartolome won the U15 mixed doubles tournament.
Other pairs to win were Andrea Hernandez and Rheylyn Pedron (Girls Doubles U13), Althea Fuentespina and Rheylyn Pedron (Girls Doubles U15), and Joe Marie Moncada and Althea Ocampo (Mixed Doubles U13).
The awarding ceremony will be held on Saturday, November 17, at the Ayala Malls in South Park, Alabang.
