Alcala seeks Binay GPrix 4-peat

MANILA, Philippines - Markie Alcala hopes to cap his domination of his age-group division in the Philippine Badminton Ranking System circuit as he goes for a four-peat in the VP Binay Grand Prix Badminton Open Championships-PBaRS fourth leg unfolding Sunday at Powersmash in Makati.

Alcala, 13, staked his claim as the country’s next badminton star when he beat Alvin Morada for the third straight time last August to sweep the first three legs of the PBaRS series in Manila, Bacolod and Davao in the boys’ Under-15 singles category.

The Allied/Victor mainstay, younger brother of top ladies Open and U-19 singles bet Malvinne, will try to cap his remarkable campaign in the inaugural season of the circuit with another win in the tournament put up by Vice President and Philippine Badminton Association president Jejomar Binay, Rep. Albee Benitez and businessman-sportsman Manny Pangilinan to bring the sport to a higher level.

But a host of others have honed up during the two-month break and are raring to foil Alcala’s sweep bid, including Morada, Arman Manlalangit, Julius Quindoza, Patrick Gecosala, Keeyan Gabuelo, brothers Miguel and Raphael Deato, Vincent Manuel, Patrick Sumabat and Glen Lopez.

Also trying to complete a sweep of four legs are Toby Gadi in the men’s Open singles and Bianca Carlos in the girls Under-19 singles of the tournament co-presented by MVP Sports Foundation and Robinsons Land.

Gadi, however, downplayed his bid for a sweep, saying his focus is to play his best and his chances of winning are just about the same as the rest.

“I’m not actually preparing for a sweep. My mindset is it’s just another tournament where I have to play my very best and have fun,” said Gadi.

“But I don’t think I have a bigger chance of winning than the others. We all trained hard and prepared for this tournament,” said Gadi.

At stake in the Open class of the event is P70,000 while the U-19 and U-15 winners will receive P20,000 and P10,000, respectively.

The elims will be held at Powersmash while the quarterfinals, the semifinals and the finals will be played at Philsports Arena in Pasig, according to PBaRS tournament director Nelson Asuncion.

The tournament is sponsored by PLDT Smart Foundation, Robinsons Mall, Gatorade and official equipment sponsor Victor, exclusively distributed by PCOME Industrial Sales, Inc.

Meanwhile, Joper Escueta, who swept the first two legs of the U-19 boys singles but failed to contend for the title in the third leg in Davao, tries to re-claim the crown against the likes of Justin Natividad, Jason Oba-ob, Carlos Cayanan, JC Clarito, Kevin Cudiamat, Jeffrey Foronda and Kenneth Monterubio.

Also up for grabs in the tournament, backed by media partners are The Philippine STAR, TV5, Badminton Extreme Philippines Magazine, Jam 88.3, Wave 89.1, Magic 89.9, 99.5 RT and 103.5 WOW! and TV-5, are the titles in the doubles and mixed doubles events in the Open and U-19 classes and the singles, doubles and mixed doubles in the Under-15 divisions.