THE ATENEO Men’s Badminton team opened their campaign in Season 78 of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) with a split in their first two matches last September 18 and 19 inside the Rizal Memorial Complex in Manila.
Blue shuttlers struggle against defending champs
Opening their season against the defending champions, National University (NU), the blue shuttlers struggled to keep pace with their opponents as they lost 4-1.
Rookie Emilio Mangubat opened the season for the blue shuttlers but struggled to get a win in his UAAP debut as he lost, 18-21 and 11-21 in the first singles match of the day.
Following Mangubat was Team Captain Clarence Filart as he secured the team’s lone win for the day by defeating NU’s Ross Pedrosa in a thrilling three-set match, 21-16, 13-21, and 21-16.
The tandem of Patrick Gecosala and Fides Bagasbas failed to capitalize in Filart’s win as they lost 15-21 and 16-21 in the first doubles match of the day.
Rookie Hans Bernardo and Filart, who would play his second match of the day and would suffer severe cramps throughout the match, lost against the tandem of Pedrosa and Paul Gonzales, 15-21 and 17-21.
Carlo Remo lost in the final singles match of the day 13-21 and 16-21.
Bounce back effort
After losing their opening match, the blue shuttlers bounced back strong in dominating fashion as they defeated the University of the East (UE) Red Warriors in a clean 5-0 sweep.
Bernardo bounced back from his loss in the previous day and dominated his UE counterpart winning 21-14, 21-14.
Team Captain Filart once against asserted his prowess; bouncing back from a poor performance in the first set winning 21-17, 21-7.
The rookie-veteran tandem of Remo and Bernardo proved to be effective as they were able to neutralize their opponent, 21-19 and 21-11.
However, it was in the second singles match of the day where the intensity revved up as the tandem of Gecosala and Bagasbas won a thrilling 30-28 set and ran away with the match winning 21-14.
Mangubat capped off the clean sweep for the blue shuttlers as he won 21-15 and 21-13 in the third singles match.
The blue shuttlers play the De La Salle Green Archers next on Wednesday, September 23, at 10 AM at the Rizal Memorial Complex in Manila.
