LAST SEASON 73 the Blue Shuttlers were struck down by luck, but a highly motivated Ateneo team kicked off the opening weekend with vengeance, winning both their opening games against La Salle and UE.
Game 1
On August 6, the first day of competition, the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex Badminton Hall was buzzing in anticipation for another season of badminton.
The Blue Shuttlers were up first, and across the net were archrivals De La Salle University. Philippine Badminton Ranking System (PBaRS) Under-19 number one Justin Natividad took to the court first, but was narrowly defeated by DLSU top gun Ronel Estanislao, 21-17, 21-17.
Next, Justin’s older brother, Pawee, took on a vastly improved JC Clarito and was given more of a challenge than expected. The Green Shuttler stamped his dominance early on, racing to an 11-9 half-game break. Natividad would find his groove, racking up six straight points and sealed the first game, 21-16, with a beautiful drop shot.
Though Clarito won the next game, 21-18, the slight hiccup was due more to Natividad’s errors, as the latter kept sending smashes into the net and drives past the baseline. After regrouping, Natividad coolly claimed the third game, 21-16, via relentless smashing.
The third match featured the pair of Philippine number one Toby Gadi and Justin Natividad against Kenneth Monterrubio and Gerald Sibayan of DLSU. It was Ateneo’s match to lose, and true enough, Gadi and Natividad made relatively quick work of their opponents taking the game 21-18, 21-16.
With Ateneo up in the rubber two matches to one, Paolo Sunga and Pawee Natividad looked to seal the victory when they faced Estanislao and Jose Martinez. However, a combination of Ateneo errors and excellent La Salle net play delayed the Blue Shuttler victory, as the DLSU pair claimed the second doubles match, 21-17, 21-17.
The deciding game featured the never-before-beaten Gadi battle Monterrubio, and it was to be the most routine match of the morning. The Blue Shuttler came out rather slow, but soon kicked it into high gear, unleashing his offensive arsenal. Gadi sealed the win for Ateneo, three matches to two, with a 21-11, 21-9 drubbing of Martinez.
Game 2
The following day, August 7, the Blue Shuttlers followed-up their opening day win with a 5-0 blanking of the University of the East.
Ateneo won match after match, with Paolo Sunga starting off the festivities for the Blue Shuttlers with a 21-19, 22-20 victory over Don Agustin in 30 minutes of play.
Toby Gadi remained undefeated in singles play after dominating his cousin Lorenzo Guerrero, 21-9, 21-7, in the second match of the morning.
The Natividad brothers, Pawee and Justin, won the first doubles match of the rubber with a 21-17, 21-11 trouncing of Agustin and Daryll Soledad.
Gadi and Sunga then posted another convincing win in the succeeding doubles match with a 21-4, 21-7 obliteration of Red Shuttlers Guerrero and Jose Luis Gomez.
In the final, no-bearing singles match of the day, Pawee Natividad stamped his dominance against Soledad with an easy 21-15, 21-9 win. The sweep of the Red Shuttlers brings Ateneo to the top of the standings, in a tie with National University, at 2-0.
The Blue Shuttlers will next face title contender National University next Saturday, August 13, at 9:00 AM once again at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex Badminton Hall.
Team Standings:
Men’s:
ADMU 2-0
NU 2-0
DLSU 1-1
FEU 1-1
UST 1-1
UE 1-1
AdU 0-2
UP 0-2
