Escoses falls; Other favorites survive scare
- Dan Rupinta ( with contribution from Manjo Zalamea)
The tournament campaign of the reigning Open Men’s Singles Champion, Lloyd Escoses came to an end, as the action continued during the Round 16 of the 2008 Yonex-Sunrise Phils National Open Badminton Championships held at the YPBC,
In the opening set, Escoses and Gadi traded smashes and kills early. Both players were point for point until 10-all, with Escoses gaining the advantage to be the first to 11. Gadi pulled away at 18-15 by outmaneuvering Escoses on the next couple of points but Escoses rallied back, however, to bring the game to 20-all. Gadi eventually claimed the set with a couple of brilliant net shots and closed the opening set, 22-20. In the 2nd set, Gadi took an early lead, 7-3, barreling Escoses with smashes from the back court which somehow set the tone for the set. Gadi then pulled away again smashing his way to 17-13. Escoses desperately tried to close the gap but faced match point at 15. A gallant last push by Escoses saved him four match points to bring the score to 20-19, but Gadi took the match on the fifth match point. The Final score: 21-19. In what could be considered as the “match of the tourney” so far, the Escoses-Gadi duel lasted 35 minutes and was witnessed by an SRO and partisan crowd, who have wildly cheered on their bets.
Nearly two & a half hours after his singles win, Antonino Gadi (Golden Shuttle Foundation/Phils National Team), came back to the centre court to play his R16 Men’s doubles match with partner Jobett Co but succumbed to 3-time Open Men’s Doubles champion, Ian Gil Piencenaves (Butuan City Badminton Club/PLDT) & Marlon Villarin (Phils Team), 21-17, 21-16.
Other R16 winners were LD Open top seed Racquel & Rachel Guerrero (DLSU/Phils team) who defeated Angelica Pardo and Lovely Lyn Sawada, 21-15, 21-13 and MD Open top seed Michael Paclibar & Bryan Chan (DLSU) who routed 2 former Phils team standouts, Allan de Leon and Owen Lopez.
Also advancing to the Quarterfinals in the Mixed Doubles Open category were the International badminton superstars, Kennevic and Kennie Asuncion of the Golden Shuttle Foundation who won via a walkover.
Favorites survived scare
In a tournament draw which has been dubbed as “nowhere to hide” by many, tourney seeds in the Open Mixed Doubles survived the scare of their lives as they hurdled two dangerous floaters in the draw. Defending Open Mixed Doubles Champion & top seed Arolas Amahit (Phils Army/Philstar) & Noelle Cassandra Ang-Siy (Mesuca-RLC) defeated JC Benipayo & Joebe Espigol, 21-16, 22-20 while 2nd seed Jaime Junio (Dunlop-Whackers BA-PLDT) & Irene Chiu (Ateneo Law) hurdled the very talented Melvin Llanes (JLTC, Battledore) & Stephanie Pagarigan (UST-Hemady-Battledore), 21-18 19-21 21-14 .
And in the Men’s Singles Open category, former Phils team member, Rodel Bartolome of PAF-PLDT-Allied-Astec ended the gallant run of Heildenberg Dimarucot of UE, 21-16 12-21 21-16
Catch the Quarterfinals action today, Nov 28, 2008 starting at 4pm.
The 2008 Yonex-Sunrise Philippines National Open Badminton Championships is presented by YONEX-SUNRISE and co-presented by PHITEN. This event is also brought to us by: Badminton Hub, Sportshub, My Shaldan, Makati Shangri-la, BSI Medicated Spray, Fish Designs, Potraitme.net, Tacorific, Potato Corner and our official & exclusive print partner, The Philippine Star. The tournament runs from Nov 22-30, 2008
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