L o Barredo rap ri als

Top juniors Airah Albo and Sarah Joy Barredo hacked out a pair of come-from-behind three-set thrillers to set up a showdown for the Open women’s singles crown in the Bingo Bonanza National Open Badminton Tournament at Glorietta 5 Atrium in Makati City yesterday.

The fourth-ranked Albo ended the unranked Mariya Sevilla’s run of impressive victories with a 16-21, 21-14, 21-10 decision, gaining a crack at her first major championship against a fellow PBA-Smash Pilipinas standout seeking to claim the country’s top ranking.

Like Albo, Barredo worked her way back into the game with a big win in the second set, then wore down last year’s tormentor Gelita Castilo in the decider to snare a 18-21, 21-16, 21-17 victory in the other semis clash of the centerpiece division of the event sponsored by Bingo Bonanza and sanctioned by the Philippine Badminton Association headed by Vice President Jejomar Binay and sec-gen Rep. Albee Benitez.

Albo and Barredo, members of the Philippine team that won the 2015 Sudirman Cup world team Group IV event last May, dispute the crown in today’s finals starting at 2 p.m., also at Glorietta 5, with the mixed doubles to be followed by the women’s doubles, the men’s doubles and the women’s and men’s singles, according to the organizing EventKing Corp.

Barredo, a former double gold medalist in the Philippine National Games, also upended Castilo in the finals of the FDG Cup last July after the latter humbled the former in the finals of the Bingo Bonanza National Open revival last year.