3 pairs advance to title matches

Three more outright finals berths in the 2011 Shirley’s Badminton Classic were secured after the games over the weekend at the TSL Sports Complex.

In the mixed doubles Lower A, Gary Bandoja and Hannai Choi completed their matches in the nine-team group with a perfect 8-0 record to book the first finals ticket. Competition rules give automatic championship seats to teams with undefeated slate after the round-robin elimination.

Bandoja and Choi swept their elimination round assignments after prevailing over Dick Guintu and Toshiko Obata, Macoi Aguda and Lot Abuel, and Robert Reyes and Malou Malasarte last weekend.

With Bandoja and Choi already notching one finals seat, four more teams will march into the semifinals and battle for the second and last finals slot. Guintu and Obata (6-2), Ferdie Arago and Annette Quambao (6-2), and Reyes and Malasarte (5-3) are in the crossover semis. Andrew Galvez and Merlie Tolentino and Rodwealth Espana and Angie Ito were scheduled to duel for the fourth semis berth last night.

In the mixed doubles B, only one finals seat is also left, as Bandoja and Oh In Sook had already secured the first championship spot. Bandoja recorded his second perfect slate when he and Sook logged an 8-0 record in Pool A.

No team swept Pool B of the mixed doubles B division, allowing Oh Inbog and Obata (7-1) and Chris Hilario and Annette Ta (7-1) to advance to the semis. The two semifinalists were scheduled to play in a ranking match last night to determine the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the semis. In the semifinals, the No. 1 team in Pool A will play the No. 2 squad in Pool B and vice versa. The winner of the semis pairing will then slug it out for the last finals berth and challenge Sook and Bandoja in the finals.

In Pool A, there is also a tie between the tandems of Lito Mendoza and Marylyn Montano (6-2) and Quiambao and Saul Gargallo (6-2) and they were set to break the deadlock last night.

The third outright finals seat went to Kanata Omori and Cleofe Santos, who topped Pool B of the mixed doubles C with their 6-0 record.

Joel Ortega and Kim Boranah finished second in Pool B with their 5-1 slate to march into the semifinals with Jerome Malasarte and Cris Obaldo (4-2). In Pool A, Luis Camacho and Elna Curate ruled the field (6-1), beating Brandon Talania and Wendy Fernandez (6-1) in the tiebreak.

Curate and Camacho will take on Jerome Malasarte and Obaldo in the semis, while Boranah and Ortega will duel Talania and Fernandez in the other semis pairing this weekend. Winners in the two semis tiffs will then fight for the right to meet Omori and Santos in the finals this Sunday.