Escueta-Magnaye pair wins three national badminton titles

MANILA, Philippines - Joper Escueta and Peter Gabriel Magnaye of Team Prima ruled the men’s doubles open to complete a sweep of all three national badminton competitions this summer, making them a duo to reckon with this year.

The pair earlier captured the fifth Ming Ramos National Open Youth Camp held May 14-18 in Manila, PBaRS Season 2 fifth leg in Cebu City May 19-23 and the Philippine National Games (PNG) last May in Dumaguete.

“It’s a great feeling that we dominated the three biggest national badminton tourneys this summer,” said Escueta. “We would like to thank our benefactor Alex Lim for the continued support and our coaches in the Philippine team.”

Escueta and Magnaye defeated Paul Vivas and Ronel Estanislao, 21-18, 21-17, to cop the Ming Ramos Cup men’s open doubles title, while Team Prima’s Sonny Boy Montilla and Greg Paz settled for third.

The No. 7 Escueta and Magnaye also beat the top seeded tandem of Estanislao and Vivas, 21-11, 21-19, to capture the open men’s doubles title and the top P70,000 cash prize in PBaRS season 2.

Prima players Aries Delos Santos and Gabriel Villanueva settled for third place in that category.

The duo again outfought fellow national players Andrei Babad and Jefferson Vivas, 21-16, 21-8, to win the PNG men’s doubles open trophy.

Kevin Cudiamat, also a member of Team Prima, took the first runner-up honor in the men’s open singles class at the PNG badminton event after yielding to fellow national player Antonino Benjamin Gadi, 7-21, 12,-21.

Wilson Joseph Lopez settled for third. in the boys’ singles 17-U. 

Greg Paz and Jen Cayetano captured the mixed doubles event by beating Gabriel Villanueva and Deska Calimlim, 13-21, 21-18, 21-18. Nina Carmela Zamora was a semifinalist in the girls’ 15 singles and doubles event.

Escueta, 18, also a member of the National University Bulldogs, bashed fellow national player Paul Vivas, 21-15, 17-21, 21-16, in a thrilling match that lasted 50 minutes to capture the men’s open singles title of the Ming Ramos Cup.