5 complete champions list in IT&E tournament

From left, IT&E’s Rob Harrell, men’s A singles champion Ferdie Arago, runner-up Alex Nguyen, and Northern Marianas Badminton Association’s Tommy Kim, and Cris Hilario pose for a photo after the awards presentation in the IT&E Singles and Doubles Badminton Competition 2018 last Friday at the TSL Sports Complex. (Contributed Photo)

Five more players made it to the winners circle of the IT&E Singles and Doubles Badminton Competition after topping their respective finals opponents last weekend at the TSL Sports Complex.

Ferdie Arago ruled the men’s A singles division after overcoming Alex Nguyen’s twice-to-beat advantage in the finals. Arago posted a 21-17, 21-16 victory in Game 1 and then completed the come-from-behind victory with a 21-18, 21-17 triumph in the deciding Game 2 last Friday.

The back-to-back wins over Nguyen made up for Arago’s earlier loss to the former in the winner’s brackets semifinals. After the defeat to Nguyen, Arago had to eliminate Gary Bandoja in the loser’s group to get a second crack at his finals foe.

Meanwhile, the pair of Windy Fernandez and Jaja Bocago foiled the upset bid of Elna Curate and Angie Ito last Friday to place first in the women’s doubles BB category. Ito and Curate outlasted their favored foes in three games in their first outing in the finals, while Bocago and Fernandez fought back in the decider, which was also played in three games.

Bocago and Fernandez and Curate and Ito also faced in the winner’s bracket semis with the first pair prevailing to earn the twice-to-beat edge, while the eventual runners-up ousted LucelleLampera and Ana Alvarez to advance to the finals.

In the men’s doubles BB, Oh Im Bog and Hannah Choi came from the loser’s bracket en route to topping the division. They knocked out Yun Zheng and Taeho Kim in the loser’s bracket semis to get back at Chris Hilario and Patrick Fernandez, who had a twice-to-beat advantage. Choi and Oh went on to take the division title after a no-show from Fernandez in last Friday’s finale.

Oh and Choi were awarded with trophies by Rob Harrel, executive director of customer operations for tournament sponsor IT&E. Trophies were also handed out to the other division champions, which include men’s doubles AB’s Nate Guerrero and Hilario, mixed AB’s Arago and Windy Fernandez, mixed BB’s Hilario and Fernandez, mixed CC’s Vince Aquino and Emma Pinkerton, men’s CC’s Aquino and Chris Ching, and women’s B’s Windy Fernandez.

Arago and Patrick Fernandez got medals for placing second in the men’s doubles AB, while other runners-up were mixed AB’s Bandoja and Hannah Choi, mixed BB’s Annette Ta and Bandoja, mixed CC’s Timothy Choi and Zoey Zhang, men’s doubles CC’s Vipul Kapool and Bruce Yu, and women’s B singles’ Loida Ito.