Top seed Paul Vivas cruised past Rusty Rodriguez to barge into the third round along with six other members of the national team yesterday in the men’s singles open category of the Philippine National Open-Ming Ramos Youth Camp badminton championships at the Rizal Memorial Badminton Hall.
The 20-year-old Vivas dominated Rodriguez, 21-10, 21-10, in just 17 minutes to advance against Kevin Alfred Dalisay, who booted out Kingsley Go, 21-16, 21-12.
The tournament not only serves as a display of the Nationals’ talents but also as a major tryout for the squad under a new stewardship.
New coach Rexy Mainaky has been watching the matches and taking notes of the players seeing action in the week-long tournament.
“I have seen a lot of promising players,” said Mainaky. “Especially in the 13-years-old matches, you can already see their skills.”
Also making progress in the meet sponsored by Victor/PCOME, Bingo Bonanza, Sun Cellular and the Philippine Sports Commission are PH mainstays Christopher Flores, Marvin Cudiamat, Peter Gabriel Magnaye, Jofer Escueta and John Monterubio.
“They should be able to show they are worthy to be in the national team,” said Mainaky of the Philippine team members who have trained with him the past two weeks.