Thea Pomar and Alvin Morada had the biggest chance of the day for the Philippine national badminton team, but ultimately lost a close three-set tussle against Hong Kong’s Chang Tak Ching and Ng Wing Yung, 21-15, 14-21, 21-23, in the mixed doubles Round of 16 of the Badminton Asia Championships 2022, Tuesday at the Muntinlupa Sports Complex in Muntinlupa City.
The two veteran internationalists took the upper hand with a 17-16 advantage with a Pomar cross-court hit before errors from the Filipinos saw the Hong Kong pair snatch the 19-17 lead.
From there, Pomar and Morada played catch up, forcing deuces up to 21-all. An error on the Morada return and then Chang finding the gap, eventually completed the comeback for Hong Kong and sent the Filipino pair packing.
“It was satisfying, yet parang nanghihinayang kami kasi we almost got it,” Pomar admitted. “Pero as far as ‘yung compared sa kalaban (na world-ranked), overall satisfied kami sa laro namin.”
The other mixed doubles pair also exited after the Round of 32 as Lea Inlayo and Solomon Padiz Jr. absorbed a 10-21, 16-21, against Chen Tang Jie and Peck Yen Wei of Malaysia.
In the men’s doubles event, Padiz and Julius Villabrille ended their run with a tough defeat at the hands of the eight-seeded Malaysians in Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzudin, 9-21, 14-21.
Earlier in the morning, the men’s and women’s singles participants could not make it past the qualification stages.
Ros Pedrosa and Jaja Andres provided the two wins for Team Philippines in the aforementioned stage.
Pedrosa captured the country’s first win of the tournament after taking care of Bahrain’s Adnan Ebrahim, 21-19, 21-8, in his first game of Group C play in the men’s singles qualifiers. On the other hand, Andres ended her first stint in the senior national team with a win over Maldives’ Fathimath Nabaaha Abul Razzaq, 21-17, 21-7, in Group B of the women’s singles side.
The two, though, only ended with 1-1 win-loss records and could not make the main draw. Dmitriy Panarin of Kazakhstan advanced in Pedrosa’s stead with a 21-14, 21-8 win, while Indonesia’s Stephanie Widjaja went through to the next round over Andres, 21-10, 21-8.
Jewel Albo and Mikaela De Guzman suffered two defeats in the other groups of the men’s and women’s singles qualifying stage.
Albo made a good account of his debut taking China’s Lei Lan Xi to a close 21-17, 21-15 contest in the latter’s favor. The graduating senior high school student then bowed out against Hong Kong’s Chan Yin Chak, 21-8, 21-10.
De Guzman, on her part, fought toe-to-toe with both Malaysia’s Mohd Khairul Myisha and Indonesia’s Komang Ayu Cahya Dewi, before the losses. Myisha had to come back from a game deficit to win over the Filipino, 13-21, 21-15, 21-14, while Dewi had to snag the first game and get the win, 25-23, 21-8.
The men’s doubles team of Paul John Pantig and Christian Bernardo, and the women’s doubles pairs of Pomar and Aira Mae Nicole Albo, and Lea Inlayo and Susmita Ramos are the remaining players who will carry the fight for Team Philippines.
The tournament is made possible by SMART, MVP Sports Foundation, Li-Ning, Cignal, TV5, One Sports, Robinson’s Land, Premium Megastructure Inc., Philippine Badminton Association, Badminton Asia, the Philippine Olympic Committee, the Philippine Sports Commission, and Muntinlupa Mayor Fresnedi and the City of Muntinlupa.
