THE UST Tiger Shuttlers extended their string of pre-season victories after clinching five medals in the C-ONE Badminton Challenge 6.0 at the C-ONE Sports Center in Cagayan De Oro City on Aug. 28.
Tiger Shuttlers Lennox Cuilao and Janzen Panisales topped the men’s advanced doubles category after cruising past Team TYCG’s Randy Rafisura and Jhon Sebastian in the finals match, 21-12, 21-17.
In women’s play, UST’s duo of Patricia de Leon and Marielle Alvarez bested Andrea Hernandez and Mary Untal of PBAD Smash Pilipinas in the finals to rule the women’s elite doubles category, 9-21, 23-21, 21-19.
De Leon, who is third in the national rankings, settled for silver after bowing down to Ateneo’s Jochelle Alvarez in the women’s open singles finals, 17-21, 14-21.
“Mas nakita ko ‘yung drive and passion to win the game. Iyon yung matagal ko nang hinihintay makita at ma-develop sa kanila,” UST head coach Charlie Medina told the Varsitarian. “Malaki [ang] improvement ng bawat isa sa kanila at natutuwa ako doon. Lahat ng sacrifices at hard work, nakikita na namin unti-unti ang result.”
Medina added that she wants to see a better overall team performance in the upcoming tournaments, especially in UAAP Season 86.
“For now, that is the challenge for me: kung paano ko pagsasabay-sabayin ‘yung magandang performance na naibibigay ng ilang individual players. They need to perform as a team,” she said.
De Leon and Alvarez were awarded a cash prize of P100,000, while Cuilao and Panisales received P50,000. De Leon received another $750 for her silver-medal finish in women’s open singles.
The tournament featured open and non-open categories. The open categories included the men’s and women’s open singles, and men’s, women’s, and mixed open doubles. The non-open categories included the men’s women’s and mixed elite doubles; men’s, women’s, and mixed advanced doubles; and men’s, women’s, and mixed Class E, Class F and Class G.
Under the tournament’s guidelines, open categories followed the best-of-three and race-to-21 scoring format. Non-open categories used a race-to-31 format, except in the finals match, where they reverted back to using the first format.
The tournament had a total of 719 entries across 18 events.
The UST Tiger Shuttlers will next compete in the 2nd Philippine Inter-Collegiate Badminton Championships from Sept. 7 to 9 at the Centro Atletico Badminton Court in Quezon City.
