Just when people started to doubt his capabilities and almost doomed the Tiger Shuttlers to another sorry elimination, team captain Paul Pantig resurfaced into the limelight.
The fifth-year Thomasian skipper played the hero in their 3-2 conquest of last year’s third-placers Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles, en route to forcing a triple-tie at the third spot at the end of the qualifying round, Saturday at the Rizal Memorial Badminton Hall.
Before the Tigers’ epic comeback, Ateneo threatened to seal their third place spot in the Final Four after standouts Jan Mangubat and Clarence Filart swept the opening two singles matches.
The Ateneo sophomore waylaid John Mark Sotea in the first singles match at 21-11, 21-14. The hard-hitting Atenean pounced on the tentative moves of his opponent to carve out the win.
On his part, the former Ateneo skipper Filart shrugged off the challenge of Cris Sanchez. Sanchez just came from his fresh deciding-game win over Jacob Tercias in their previous match against FEU, and the Thomasian showed signs of his fight in this tie. Nonetheless, it was the veteran smarts and consistency of the lanky shuttler that won it in two games, 21-16, 21-14, for the Blue and White.
The Tigers then growled and crawled their way back from the brink of elimination with their captain at the helm.
Pantig and long-time partner John Reyes kicked off the comeback bid with a gritty three-setter against Mangubat and Hanz Bernardo in the first doubles match. The upstart Ateneans took the opening game at 21-17. However, the UST duo rode on crests of momentum to get the win and took one back at 21-12, 21-17 in the next two games.
Sotea finally found his groove in his doubles match, as he, along with Kristian Barrios upended Fides Bagasbas and Carlo Remo in two closely fought games, 21-17, 21-19. The España-based pair had control of both games, before their opponents made a case. In the end, with better execution Sotea and Barrios turned the final singles match into a decider.
It was up to the fifth-year Pantig to either extend his UAAP career or play his swan song. The Thomasian had a resounding response.
Bernardo controlled the opening frame from the get-go as the senior Thomasian scoured for points. Pantig kept it close, but eventually his opponent seized the advantage and closed it out at 21-18.
Whoever takes the point on his service would likely win the game. That was the story of the first, but more particularly, the second game. Bernardo this time had difficulty stringing up the points as he committed errors on his counter after the service, giving the points to Pantig. The King Tiger would eventually force a final deciding game after dominating the second game at 21-11.
UST’s super senior took the initiative at the change-over at 11-9, before his younger counterpart started to wax hot with aggressive smashes and even found the baseline on his slice shots. Pantig would hang on and take the first match point at 20-19. However, Bernardo had other plans.
As what has been the story of the deciding match, both players registered match points, but neither could get the serve they needed to finish the match with a successful counter. In the end, it was the España-based gentleman who was able to close it out. An error by Bernardo followed by an offensive drop gave Pantig and the Tigers the win at 28-26.
The winner-take-all tie for the #4 seed between the Blue Shuttlers and Tiger Shuttlers happen tomorrow at 8am at the same venue. The survivor of the battle will take on #3-seed De La Salle University Green Shuttlers in the stepladder postseason first round on Wednesday morning.
