Asuncions gain JVC Open badminton finals

Top seed Kennevic Asuncion struggled past a never-say-die Arolas Amahit of Army to eke out a 13-15, 15-4, 15-9 victory, while sister Kennie crushed Michelle Guerrero, 11-2, 11-1, to advance to the men’s and ladies’ singles finals of the JVC Open Badminton Championships yesterday at the Glorieta Activity Center in Makati. Kennevic now faces Ian Piencenaves, also of the Army, who finished off Rodel Bartolome of Air Force-UP Diliman, 15-9, 15-1, in the other semifinal match of the tournament staged by the International Management Group and sponsored by Yonex, Pioneer Allianz, Philippine STAR, Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, National Sports Grill, Rudy Project, Tokyo Tokyo, Accel and 103.5 K Lite.

In ladies singles, Kennie plays opposite Margarita Manalang, who defeated Alma Ledesma, 10-13, 11-4, 11-5.

Amahit and Piencenaves squeezed past Wally Fernandez and Asuncion, 15-5, 15-13, to earn a finals berth against Reynaldo Selga and Ricky Bartolome, who tripped Brandon Chan and Naresh Ramnani, 17-15, 15-10.

In ladies doubles, Kennie Asuncion and former PSC commissioner Amparo "Weena" Lim bundled out Hannah Javelosa and Vida Chua, 15-2, 15-1, and reached the finals where they play Ledesma and Manalang, 4-15, 15-9, 15-7 winners over Guerrero sisters Michelle and Raquel.

The mixed doubles will be a toss up between Kennie-Kennevic, 15-9, 13-15, 15-10 winners over Michelle de Jesus-Alex Cuevas, and Ramnani-Lim, who downed Rodel Bartolome and Dianah Barbo, 15-4, 15-9.

Eight companies are competing in the corporate invitational with Asian Development Bank on top in the Group1 qualifying rounds followed by Prudential Life. In Group 2, 1 G Kids was top qualifier followed by HSBC.

ADB faces HSBC in the semifinals while 1 G Kids Food, a Korean company, faces Prudential Life.