Malvinne Alcala draws tough World Juniors foe

Malvinne Ann Alcala will take on joint fifth seed Sonia Su Ya Cheah of Malaysia when she opens her World Juniors Championships campaign Wednesday in Taiwan.

The 16-year-old Alcala, coming off a sweep of the Under-19 and Open singles titles in the PBaRS-VP Binay Cup Badminton Championships, battles one of the leading junior players of talent-rich Malaysia at 6:55 p.m. in the upper half of the 128-player event which features the world’s leading Under-19 players.

Janelle de Vera kicks off the Philippine team’s bid in the week-long tournament. She takes on England’s Emily Westwood in the lower bracket at 10:45 a.m.

De Vera, whose campaign along with the other Filipino bets are sanctioned by the Philippine Badminton Association, later teams up with Kevin Cudiamat as they slug it out with Singpore’s Asraf Ishak and Wei Han Tan in the mixed doubles at 1:05 p.m.

Cudiamat also sees action in the boys’ singles against Russian Anatolly Yartsev at 3:25 p.m.

Joper Escueta, the country’s No. 1 junior player, drew an opening-round bye and will face the winner of the Jason King Ching Lo and Tolga Oszoy clash in the second round.