Alcala repels Singaporean, cops Australia Jrs plum

MANILA, Philippines - Malvinne Ann Alcala continued to gain recognition and ranking points abroad, beating top seed Wendy Chen of Australia in the semis en route to bagging the women’s singles crown in the 2011 Li-ning Australia Juniors at the Ken Kay Badminton Stadium in Wendouree, Australia last Sunday.

Alcala, the country’s leading player and winner of last year’s Singapore Youth International Badminton Championships, dominated third seed Fiona Seah of Singapore and fashioned out a 21-8, 21-9 victory in the finals of the weeklong event which gathered some of the top juniors in the Asia-Pacific region.

The 16-year-old find, a protégé of former First Lady Amelita “Ming” Ramos, turned back local bet Sarah Wong, 21-14, 21-17, in the round of 32 then routed another Australian Maddie Stapleton, 21-11, 21-9, to advance to the quarters.

Facing another local rival, fifth seed Verdet Kessler, Alcala kept her winning form and essayed a 21-15, 21-10 romp then poured it all out in the semis when she battled back from a set down to topple the top-ranked Chen in a thrilling three-setter, 16-21, 21-17, 21-17.

With the momentum on her side, plus a large dose of confidence, the reigning national champion, who also reached the quarterfinal round in the recent New Zealand International Challenge, had little trouble in disposing of Seah for the crown.

Alcala, however, failed to complete a golden double as she and teammate Theodore Christopher Matthew Co settled for runner-up in the mixed doubles event after losing to Singapore’s No. 2 Terry Hae and Joline Chua, 16-21, 11-21.

The Phl duo beat Australia’s Brayden Allan and Krystel Oodoomansaib, 21-12, 21-9, in the round of 32, trampled Aaron Chu and Buddhima Fernando, 21-18, 21-16, in the next round then upended the fifth seeded pair of Sawan Serasinghe and Gronya Somerville, 21-17, 21-18, in the semis.

They actually stunned the top seeded tandem of Asher Richardson and Maddie Stapleton of Australia, 21-14, 18-21, 21-13, in the semis but fell short of their bid against the talented Singaporean pair in the finals.

In other results, Co and Reden Cuden won over Australia’s Matt Nevett and Lucas Rais-Colvin, 21-12, 21-18, in the round of 32 but bowed to Chew Hu-wen and David Nojam, 21-19, 17-21, 16-21, in the Last 16 phase of the men’s doubles.

Co only reached the round of 16 stage in the men’s singles, beating Brendan Tang, 21-12, 26-24, but losing to Singapore’s Leslie Teng, 18-21, 12-21. Reden also bowed to Australia’s James Dahni, 21-17, 14-21, 17-21.