Castilo turns back Carlos, cops PBaRS Open singles

MANILA, Philippines - Gelita Castilo finally ended her search for the women’s Open singles crown in the MVP Sports Foundation-Bingo Bonanza Philippine Badminton Ranking System (PBaRS) circuit as she mastered Bianca Carlos, 21-7, 21-14, in the final before a big crowd at the Wheels ‘N More badminton courts in Davao yesterday.

The top seeded Castilo, who bowed to Carlos in the Manila leg final and yielded the Bacolod leg title to Malvinne Alcala last month, turned in a solid all-around performance to outplay Carlos in the opening set then held sway in the next to essay the 33-minute victory.

The top Golden Shuttle Foundation bet took home the top P70,000 purse in the P1 million event which served as the third leg of the four-stage nation-wide circuit put up by the Philippine Badminton Association under Vice President and PBA president Jejomar Binay, Rep. Albee Benitez and businessman-sportsman Manny V. Pangilinan.

Carlos, also a GSF stalwart, settled for P35,000 while joint third placers Bianca Legaspi and Fatima Cruz received P10,500 each during awards rites of the event backed by official equipment sponsor Victor, exclusively distributed by PCOME Industrial Sales, Inc.

Antonino Gadi, another GSF mainstay, kept his reign in the men’s Open singles, battling back from a first-set setback to turn back Paul Vivas, 19-21, 21-12, 21-14, and pocket the P70,000 purse after the one-hour encounter.

Despite her loss in the Open, Carlos re-stamped her class in Under-19 class, beating Janelle De Vera, 21-16, 21-15, to claim her third straight crown after besting Nikki Servando in Manila and Ana Barredo in Bacolod.

Wilbert Natividad captured his PBaRS crown as he thwarted Rabie Jason Oba-ob, 21-10, 21-13, in the final of boys” U-19 category of the event supported by PLDT-Smart Foundation, Victor PCOME Industrial Sales, Gatorade and Powersmash with The Philippine STAR, TV5, Badminton Extreme Philippines Magazine, Jam 88.3, Wave 89.1, Magic 89.9, 99.5 RT and 103.5 WOW! as media partners.

Carlos and Natividad each won P20,000.

Top-ranked Markie Alcala, meanwhile, held off second seed Alvin Morada in a tough three-set duel, fighting back from a second set loss to complete a 21-16, 20-22, 21-14 win for his third straight title in the boys’ U-15 division.

Whackers’ Joella de Vera, winner of the Manila leg, reclaimed the girls’ U-15 crown with a 21-18, 21-12 victory over Amabal Sumabat.