Top favorites show way in National Open badminton

Top seed Kenneth Monterubio and No. 2 Gerard Sibayan essayed a pair of straight-set victories over separate rivals to cruise into the Last 16 of the boys’ singles Under-17 category in the Ming Ramos-Victor National Open and Youth Badminton Championships which got underway Monday at the Club 650 Badminton Center in Libis, Quezon City Monterubio and Sibayan, both of Allied-Victor Club 650 team, drew opening-day byes, then quickly buckled down to work by disposing of Diego Libiran, 21-9, 21-7, and Jesschard Piol, 21-12, 21-14, respectively, to lead 14 others into the third round of the event organized by the Philippine Badminton Association. Lee Sabanal of Gingoog Badminton Club posted the tournament’s first reversal when he upended joint fifth-ranked John Calbario of Escoses Training Camp, 21-12, 22-20, to clinch a spot in the last 16. He will face Miguel Ramos, who held off Lorenz Dooma, 21-16, 21-18. Others who advanced in the four-day event, sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) and the Badminton Asia Confederation (BAC), were Clarence Filart, Jojo Malelang, Joshua Balagtas, Theodore Co, Daniel Guda, Reden Cuden, Roland Bacong, Christian Boro, Lance Bautista, Jon Masongsong, Anton Cayanan and Carlo Remo. Earlier, former President Fidel V. Ramos graced the opener of the four-day event together with PBA president and former First Lady Amelita "Ming" Ramos, along with PBA executive vice president Gen. Edgar Aglipay, national coach Conrado Co, and PCOME Industrial Sales, Inc. president and CEO Alex Villamanca. Filart, playing out of Golden Shuttle Foundation, toppled Sean Chan, 23-21, 21-14, and Alex Nazareno, 21-12, 21-14; Malelang drew a bye in the first round then bundled out Leo Orsinilla, 21-8, 21-14; Balagtas outlasted Rovel Roasa, 21-7, 17-21, 21-10, and tripped Aleckhine Aquino, 21-15, 22-20; Co dominated John Orellano, 21-10, 21-8; Guda thwarted Joseph Antonio, 21-18, 11-21, 21-15, then downed Gio Fajardo, 21-12, 21-11; Cuden prevailed over Nathaniel Pineda, 21-15, 21-14; Bacong beat Timmie de Guzman, 21-8, 21-9, then outplayed Mark Magboo, 21-10, 21-12; Boro defeated Elfin Keyser, 21-17, 21-18, then scored a walkover win in the second round; Bautista trounced Vincent Fabro, 21-6, 21-18; Masongsong whipped Jose Villarba, 21-12, 21-12, then repulsed Kyle Gosiaco, 15-21, 21-11, 21-19; Cayanan toppled John Ang, 21-6, 21-15; and Remo whitewashed Raymund Ajero, 21-0, 21-0. In the boys U-19 division, Jesschard Piol of Whackers Badminton Academy hacked out a 21-5, 21-13 win over Rovel Roasa to set up a Last 16 match with top seed and national team mainstay Joper Escueta, while Diego Libiran, also of WBA, routed Kevin Ponciano, 21-0, 21-0, to arrange a duel with No. 2 Peter Magnaye, also of Phl team, in the lower half of the draw. In the girls U-15, Mikaela Aquino tripped Alex Sibal, 21-6, 21-17, to advance to the second round against top seed Cassandra Lim, while Faith de Vera toppled Andee Pamintuan, 21-16, 21-16, to set up a clash with joint fifth-seed Diane Catangay. Other winners were Samantha Ramos and Bianca Ordo, who both blanked Tanu Kumar and Erielle Chua, 21-0, 21-0; Diane Ocampo, who held off Ann Maranon, 15-21, 21-11, 21-18; and Jackie Keyser, who downed Marie Reyes, 21-19, 21-10. - KY, RCJ, GMANews.TV