US Junior: Pinoy shuttlers bag 12 golds

Siblings Mark Shelley and Malvinne Ann Alcala bagged three gold medals each to power Team Philippines to a 12-gold medal haul in the 21st Annual Junior International Championships-Wes Schoppe Memorial in Manhattan Beach, California, recently.

Mark, 15, ruled three age categories—boys’ Under-17 and -19 singles and the U-15 doubles, while Malvinne reigned in the girls’ U-19 and U-22 and U-19 mixed doubles categories of the event that drew 114 players from Mexico, Chile, Guatemala, Ghana, Peru, the Philippines and the United States.

Mark teamed up with rising star Joaquin Louis Pangilinan to capture the U-15 doubles plum. Pangilinan, who bagged the U-15 gold medal, is the newest recruit of the Philippine development team from City Shuttle Pampanga.

Malvinne, on the other hand, partnered with Ros Leenard Pedrosa in winning the U-19 mixed doubles gold.

The eight-team Philippine contingent, headed by Philippine Badminton Association national coaches Malvin Alcala and Allan de Leon, took part in the U-15, -17, -19 and 22 age brackets which they dominated against their Pan-American counterparts.

Pedrosa also took home three gold medals, including boys’ U-22 and the mixed doubles U-22 with Flo Lamigo.

The other gold medalists were Joella Geva de Vera (girls’ singles U-17); Alexis Geverjuan and Wilson Joseph Lopez II (boys’ doubles U-17); and De Vera and Lamigo (girls’ doubles U-22).

Three Filipino brought home silver medals, including Wilson Joseph Lopez II (boys’ singles U-17), Pedrosa (singles U-19) and De Vera (singles U-19) while Pangilinan and Alexis Geverjuan captured bronze medals in U-17 singles.