Alcala snares twin PBaRS Open crowns

MANILA, Philippines—Malvinne Ann Alcala swept the ladies Open and girls Under-19 singles titles while Toby Gadi and Markie Alcala both pulled off a four-peat at the close of the VP Binay Grand Prix Badminton Open Championships-PBaRS fourth leg at Philsports Arena in Pasig Saturday.

The 16-year-old Malvinne, priming up for next week’s World Juniors in Taiwan, survived a tough first set en route to thwarting Bianca Carlos, 22-20, 21-16, to bag her second ladies Open singles crown in the P1-million event.

“I had to play it safe for most part and go for sure shots since Bianca is hardworking and so fast,” said Malvinne, who also topped the second leg, held in Bacolod, of the circuit organized by Philippine Badminton Ranking System and  presented by MVP Sports Foundation and Robinsons Land.

Malvinne took home P70,000 but settled for No. 3 in the official national ranking after missing two of the other legs in the nationwide circuit that ranked players according to their performance and strength.

She later repeated over Carlos, 21-14, 21-10, in the U-19 finals for another P20,000.

In the men’s Open singles, Gadi downed Gabriel Magnaye in 58 minutes, 21-15, 13-21, 23-21, and likewise pocketed P70,000 after completing a sweep of the premier class.

The younger Alcala also posted a four-peat in the boys’ Under-15 singles, repeating over Alvin Morada, 21-16, 21-12.

Third seed Samantha Louise Ramos shared the spotlight as she completed her upset run over the top two seeds in girls U-15 category, repulsing No. 1 Joelle de Vera, 21-17, 14-21, 21-14, and booting out No. 2 Alyssa Leonardo, 21-19, 21-15, in the semifinals.

Joper Escueta, meanwhile, dominated Wilbert Natividad, 21-12, 21-7, to reclaim the boys U-19 crown and the top ranking in their division.

The event offered P70,000, P20,000 and P10,000 to the winners in the Open, U-19 and U-15 divisions, respectively, according to PBaRS tournament director Nelson Asuncion.