THE ATENEO Blue Shuttlers went into the final day of the UAAP Season 74 Badminton Championship round robin chasing a coveted twice-to-beat advantage in the Final Four. With much hope and determination, the boys in blue took on the University of Santo Tomas (UST) on August 28 at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex Badminton Hall.
The task at hand wasn’t easy. In order to gain the Final Four bonus, two scenarios had to take place. First, they had to win all of their matches against UST. Second, they had to rely on De La Salle University (DLSU) to lose their team tie to league-leading National University (NU) in order to have a chance at the second seed.
Coach Kennie Asuncion’s troops, though, were more focused on matters which were still under their control. In the first match of the morning, Blue Shuttler Toby Gadi, nonchalantly breezed through an overmatched Salvador Kapunan of UST. Gadi won 21-7, 21-6 to set the tone for his team.
Justin Natividad tried to duplicate Gadi’s effort but let a close first game slip away, surrendering a 17-21 score to UST’s Benjude Cajefe. Natividad, though, kept his composure and built an 18-11 lead in the second game, which he eventually won 21-16. He went on to shut the door on the diminutive Cajefe with a 21-19 triumph in the third and deciding game.
The first doubles match featured Pawee Natividad and Paolo Sunga going up against Rjay Ormilla and Kapunan. The veteran Ateneo tandem was a step quicker than their Thomasian counterparts, as they fed on each other’s energy to race off to a 21-9 victory in the first game.
Leading 19-14, they were on track to take the second game as well, but Ormilla and Kapunan went on a 7-0 run to steal the game, 21-19. Sunga and Natividad then played with a deepened sense of urgency in the deciding game, which they captured 21-14 to secure the team tie victory for Ateneo.
Blue Shuttlers Gadi and Justin Natividad squared off against Patrique Magnaye and Renz Vivas in the second doubles match. The boys from Katipunan rolled to an easy 21-9 win in the first game before conceding the second game, 19-21, to UST. The Atenean duo answered back in the third and final game with a 21-4 demolition job in which Gadi displayed his entire arsenal of moves, leaving no doubt on everyone’s mind why he’s ranked number one in the country.
Pawee Natividad had the assignment of closing out the UST contingent in the last match of the morning. The older Natividad posted a 21-17, 21-16 victory over Ormilla to give the Blue Shuttlers the 5-0 sweep that they needed. Their Final Four fate was now up to the badminton gods.
Despite taking care of their end of the deal, the Blue Shuttlers finished the elimination round ranked 4th due to DLSU’s 3-2 team tie victory over NU.
Coach Kennie’s boys finished the regular season with a 5-2 record and will face their top seeded archrivals DLSU, whom they beat in the very first day of competition, in the semifinal round on September 10.
Though they need to win twice in order to advance to the finals, the Blue Shuttlers have shown no sign of backing down so far.
