Princess up by 6 in Singapore
Princess Superal kept her run of good form in Singapore, firing a fourunder 68 and posting a huge six-stroke lead over local ace Sarah Tan at the start of the SICC Singapore Junior Invitational at the Sime Course late Tuesday.
The 16-year- old Superal, seeking to cap a brilliant season, that included victories in the US Girls Juniors, the Santi Cup, the Temecula crown and at least four wins in the Asia-Pacific tournaments, hit five birdies to negate a lone bogey mishap on the par-72 layout and line herself up for another victory.
Tan struggled in the early going and wound up with a two- over 74 while another local bet Wong Yen Ting stood three shot farther back at 77 and Thailand’s Pirada Ayudha skied to a 79 in the premier 16-18 division.
Thai Omkanok Soisuwan, also of Thailand, carded a 73 and seized a onestroke lead over Team ICTSI bet Yuka Saso, who turned in a 74 while Indonesian Inez Wanamarta and Thai Nicha Vorransanpisut each shot a 75.
Abby Arevalo and Sofia Chabon, meanwhile, struggled with 76 and 79, respectively.
“Barring any major disaster, I think Princess is in for another romp,” said Team ICTSI coach Bong Lopez.
The R1.5 million Bingo Bonanza National Open badminton tournament fires off today with 33 singles matches on tap in the busy morning play alone with the country’s finest shuttlers and rising stars taking center stage at the Rizal Memorial Badminton Center.
Mark Alcala slugs it out with Neil Pineda in one of the three matches set at 9 a.m. with the recent Singapore Youth champion hoping to shrug off jitters and live up to the hype against a slew of fancied bets in the full-packed 64-player men’s singles roster.
Jon Masongson, a teammate of Alcala at Allied Victor, takes on Johnrick Macabenta of Adamson while Ateneo’s Clarence Filart faces Benjamin Silva of Team Prima in the two other pairings kicking off the opener of the four-day ranking championship sponsored by Bingo Bonanza Corp.
Allied Victor’s Malvinne “Poca” Alcala, unseeded but tipped to crowd the top-ranked bets in the 32-player women’s singles draw, sets out against Ateneo mainstay Dia Magno at 12:30 p.m. with the winner advancing against Adamson’s Mika Aquino, who drew a bye in the opener of the tournament sanctioned by the Philippine Badminton Association headed by Vice President Jejomar Binay and sec-gen Rep. Albee Benitez and organized by EventKing Corp.
Gelita Castilo, also of Allied Victor, mixes it up with Golden Shuttle Foundation’s Sam Ramos; Ateneo’s Cassandra Lim collides with Smash Pilipinas’ Alyssa Geverjuan; Patrisha Malibiran, also of Ateneo, takes on Smash Pilipinas’ Mariya Sevilla; while Adamson’s Jhay Anne Macabenta tests Team Prima’s Annelyn Alba’s mettle.
Men’s singles top seed Toby Gadi gets to see action in afternoon play, taking on the winner of the Masongsong-Macabenta duel while No. 8 Wilson Lopez will tangle with the victor in the Silva-Filart duel.
Twelve men’s doubles matches are also on tap in the day with Mark Alcala teaming up with Theodore Co against Jaime Junio and Anggy Sep-