ONE MORE for the dream.
Two-time Palarong Pambansa badminton doubles’ champion Anna Patricia Barredo will have to wait another season to fulfill her dream of leading the UST Female Shuttlers to the UAAP title.
Barredo, the top women’s badminton player of UST for four years now, failed to tow her squad to the Final Four. The Female Shuttlers lost to Far Eastern University in a playoff and settled for fifth place.
Barredo, the former top-ranked Philippine mixed doubles player, was the lone bright spot for the Female Shuttlers this season after winning 12 games, sweeping all her singles matches and winning five out of seven of her doubles games.
The team captain admitted that despite her remarkable campaign this year, she was frustrated about the team’s overall performance and standing.
“I was frustrated especially in our games against UP (University of the Philippines) and Ateneo [de Manila University] because we were the only team that had a good chance of beating them. Kaso, pinakawalan pa namin,” she told the Varsitarian.
During the Female Shuttlers’ game against the defending champion Ateneo, they were on the brink of a humiliating 0-3 defeat after losing the first two matches. But Barredo scored an upset against the Lady Eagles’ top duo in the first doubles match to keep the team alive, 1-2.
But UST’s second doubles pair fell to Ateneo, 1-3, and squandered a potential game-winning match of Barredo in the third singles against Janella de Vera.
The Female Shuttlers were almost in the same situation against the undefeated UP squad after Barredo and Steffi Aquino tied the game at 2-2 after winning the second doubles match. But rookie Airish Macalino could not contain the pressure and succumbed in the fifth game.
Barredo did not want to blame any of her teammates in their close defeats but wished she could have played the crucial games.
She said she knew even before the start of the season that she needed to step up and act as the leader.
Barredo said she did not want to be the team captain due to her stoic-like attitude when it came to leadership but nevertheless took the responsibility.
“Personally, I don’t want to be a team captain. I don’t know how to be, but I don’t have a choice. I am the eldest and most senior in the team,” she said.
After her impressive performance in the UAAP, the 20-year-old shuttler was invited to again suit up for the national team.
The UST Shuttler has accepted the offer but has not decided when she will return to the RP team as her parents have not yet learned her decision.
Barredo had been part of the Philippine team since third year in high school but left during her second year in college after suffering hyperthyroidism, a disease which speeds up one’s metabolism, causing her to experience palpitations and get tired easily.
Despite the setback, the veteran did not regret leaving the national team, saying the bonding with her teammates in UST was totally different from that with her fellow national team mainstays.
“I am happy here in UST because here we treat each other like true siblings. We are a family,” Barredo said.
For her final UAAP stint next year, Barredo vowed to continue chasing her ultimate goal to cap her collegiate years with a title.
