Sarah Barredo swept all of her assignments to pace the winners on the opening day of the MVP Second Badminton Cup, Wednesday at the Olympic Badminton Center in Ugong, Pasig City.
Barredo closed out her day with a comfortable win past Anthea Marie Gonzalez, 21-8, 21-13, to go undefeated in three matches. The National University product earlier took down Christel Rei Fuentespina, 21-6, 21-9, and dominated Angel Valle, 21-13, 21-11, to lead the women’s singles race.
The 22-year-old Barredo was happy to compete again after almost a year. She said, “Happy rin kasi nagkaroon kami ng tournament in preparation for the Southeast Asian Games.
“Yung preparation kasi namin since lockdown, ang dami ring hindrance for us to train. Pero at least nag-train ako ng maayos and I think prepared naman ako for this tournament,” she added.
A pair of fellow UAAP standouts in Jaja Andres and Mikaela De Guzman joined the UAAP Season 81 Rookie of the Year atop the standings at 3-0 for the day after winning over the same opponents.
UP’s Andres defeated Valle, 21-17, 21-10, then Gonzalez, 21-13, 21-13, before downing Fuentespina, 21-12, 21-13. Meanwhile, Ateneo’s De Guzman opened her tournament with a win over Gonzalez, 21-17, 21-15, before winning past Fuentespina, 21-8, 21-7, and Valle, 21-8, retired, in that order.
The three will test their mettle against each other on Thursday for a place in the final the following day.
Ros Pedrosa and age-group standout Jewel Albo paced their group in the men’s singles as both went unscathed for the day.
Pedrosa blanked Jefferson Oba-ob, 21-10, 21-14, before going through the wringer over former La Salle stalwart Kenneth Monterubio 22-20, 21-16. On the other hand, Albo comfortably won past Jefferson Oba-ob, 21-10, 21-13, and then over Robert Ishmael Ramos, 21-8, 21-12.
Mark Anthony Velasco and RJ Oba-ob paced the other pool with similar 2-0 win-loss records.
Velasco scored a 21-23, 21-13 victory over Lance Vargas before sweeping JM Estrada, 21-13, 21-14. while RJ Oba-ob had to outlast Vargas in three, 20-22, 21-16, 21-8, before closing the day’s action with a win over Clarence Villaflor, 21-19.21-13.
The men’s doubles saw a wild turn of events, but July Villabrille and Solomon Padiz took the lead with a 2-0 win-loss card.
The duo stunned long-time national mainstay Paul Pantig and new partner Christian Bernardo, 21-14, 21-11, and then ended the day with a victory over JM Bernardo and Michael Clemente, 21-16, 21-14.
Meanwhile in women’s doubles, veteran duos took control of their respective matches.
Thea Pomar and Jochelle Alvarez took care of Susmita Ramos and Althea Fuentespina, 21-15, 21-17, in Group 1. On the other hand, Nicole Albo and Lea Inlayo defeated Aubrey Masongsong and Andrea Hernandez, 21-6, 21-7, in Group 2.
A grand total of P 200,000 is at stake for the winners of all the four events in this tournament backed by Smash Pilipinas, SMART, MVP Sports Foundation, the Philippine Olympic Committee, the Philippine Sports Commission, Leisure and Resorts World Corporation, Metro Pacific Investments, Concrete Stone Corp., and Robinson’s Land.
