Filipina shuttlers crash out of Badminton Asia tourney
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine women's badminton team ended their Badminton Asia Manila Team Championships 2020 campaign without a win after succumbing to Indonesia, 0-5, at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum on Wednesday.
The Filipina shuttlers had a promising start, with Nicole Albo earning a 21-19 opening game win over world no. 24 Gregoria Tunjung.
But Albo seemed to run out of steam in the second and third games as Tunjung rolled past her, 21-11, 21-9.
In the first doubles match, the Philippine duo of Alyssa Leonardo and Thea Pomar put up a fight against Indonesians Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu but ultimately faltered, 18-21, 12-21.
Bianca Carlos' 10-21, 18-21 loss to Ruselli Hartawan in the second singles was what utlimately gave the team tie to Indonesia.
Hartawan is ranked 34th in the BWF world rankings.
The doubles duo of Joella Geva De Vera and Chanelle Lunod, along with third singles Joy Barredo, also fell short against their Indonesian opponents.
But Philippine women's singles coach Ian Mendez is taking the results positively.
"As a coach happy naman ako sa performance nila... Yung kalaban naman natin ay mga Olympian pero ako happy ako kasi kahit ganun yung mga kalaban natin, yung mga players natin nailabas yung laro nila, nakalapit tayo (As a coach, I'm happy with the team's performance. Our opponents they are already Olympians and I'm happy because even though our opponents are good, our players were able to keep the game close)," Mendez said in an interview.
Despite the winless campaign, Mendez is thankful for the international exposure and is hopeful for more opportunities like these in the future.
"Exposure yun ang kailangan namin as of now. [The] technique, the tactics, nakita mo andoon na, nakasabay tayo... If ma-gain namin yung exposure, siguro yung experience namin mas tataas (We need exposure. The technique, the tactics, you can see it's already there. We can play at pace with them... If we gain the exposure, our experience will also grow)," Mendez added.
The men's team will see action later today against Singapore — a need to win team tie to avoid elimination.
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