Guintu, Choi rule mixed doubles A

 Dick Guintu and Hannah Choi handed Angie Ito and Andrew Galvez their lone loss in the 2011 Shirley’s Badminton Classic en route to winning the mixed doubles Class A championship last Sunday at the TSL Sports.

Guintu and Choi needed three games to stun the then undefeated Ito and Galvez in the finals. The first game went down-to-the-wire with Choi and Guintu escaping with a 22-20 victory. In the second game, Ito and Galvez regrouped and pulled off the win in another close tiff, 21-18. However, Galvez and Ito lost steam in the deciding Game 3, which Guintu and Choi dominated, 21-13.

Before their finals loss, Galvez and Ito won all their seven games in the elimination round, while Guintu and Choi finished the round-robin competition with a 6-1 record. Ito and Galvez went on to automatically advance to the finals, while Choi and Guintu had to win two playoff games to make it to the championship match.

The eventual champions defeated the tandems of Malou Malasarte and Hapi Gabriel and Ferdie Arago and Lani Bartolome to book the second finals berth. Arago and Bartolome were forced to play in the consolation game and lost the third place to Macou Aguda and Marlene Peraja, who survived their foes in three sets, 19-21, 21-15, 21-18.

In the Class AB finale, Guintu and Choi found themselves on opposite sides with the former teaming up with Toshiko Obata and the latter joining forces with Gary Bandoja. Choi went on to clinch her second championship, as she and Bandoja swept Obata and Guintu, 21-18, 21-13.

Arago and Annette Quiambao took the third place award after beating Robert Reyes and Malou Malasarte in the consolation game, 21-12, 21-18.,

Bandoja duplicated Choi’s feat when he partnered with Heo In Sook in downing Oh Imbog and Obata in the Class B finals. Bandoja and Sook won the opening game, 21-13, but failed to wrap up the match early when Imbog and Obata recovered in the second game, 21-19. In the third game, it was Bandoja and Sook’s turn to bounce back and pull off a 21-15 triumph to claim the championship.

Lito Mendoza and Marylyn Montano placed third in Class B after topping Saul Gargallo and Quiambao, 21-19, 18-21, 23-21.

Choi figured in her third championship match when she joined Mario Diola in battling Guintu and Sook in the mixed doubles 40-and-above division finals. The championship went the distance with Choi and Diola winning, 15-21, 21-19, 21-15.

Completing this year’s list of champions were Kim Boranah and Joel Ortega, who were the first ones to win the competition after prevailing over Kanata Omori and Cleofe Santos in the Class C finals last Saturday, 21-4, 21-14,

Medals were given to the Top 4 finishers in each division during the awards ceremony last Sunday night.