Maroons blank Warriors in UAAP badminton opener

MANILA, Philippines – UAAP Season 81 runner-up University of the Philippines set the tone to its title bid in the as they dominated University of the East in its Season 82 opener, 5-0, Wednesday morning at the Centro Atletico Badminton Center in Quezon City.

Captain JM Bernardo sparked the rout with a two-setter over Edward Adriano in 21-11, 21-6, before rookie Kim Ga-an scored a come-from-behind win against Angelo David in the decider, 19-21, 21-16, 21-15.

The Fighting Maroons then clinched the tie after the duo of Michael Clemente and Vinci Manuel subdued Christian Garcia and Khristian Reyes, 21-13, 21-10, in the first doubles match.

Young guns Jason Vanzuela and Harvey Tungul, and Season 81 Rookie of the Year Kyle Legazpi took the last two matches to complete the sweep for UP.

"Nag-set kami ng goal this season na gustong bumawi lahat. Gusto naming makuha yung championship," said Bernardo.

"Natutuwa ako sa performance ng team. Nagawa namin yung pinaghandaan namin. Yung tinraining namin lumabas kanina," he continued.

De La Salle University and Ateneo de Manila University joined UP as opening day victors after also carving out 5-0 sweeps of Adamson University and University of Santo Tomas, respectively.

Now in La Salle, former Blue Eagles Jan Mangubat and Hanz Bernardo were triumphant in their UAAP comebacks, capped by their tie-clinching win in the doubles over Kevin Fabros and David Libanan, 21-17, 21-18.

Mangubat fended off Elbren Concha in the first singles match at 15-21, 21-15, 21-10. Andrew Pineda put La Salle at 2-0 after the sweep of Fabros in the following singles match at 21-13, 21-16.

On the hand, Ateneo leaned on the twin victories of senior Keoni Asuncion and the splendid debut of rookie Bryan Bernardo to barge into the win column.

Asuncion opened the day with tough win over Llanz Ramirez at 21-13, 19-21, 21-16. in the second singles match teaming up with Jacinto Maliwat in taking down Russel Enriquez and John Olin Defensor in the second doubles match also in three games. Bryan Bernardo swept Sean Dela Cruz, 21-15, 21-18, to end the opening day of the seven-team meet.