SARAH Barredo came away victorious in all her assignments during the opening day of action in the MVP Second Badminton Cup on Feb. 23, 2022 at the Olympic Badminton Center in Ugong, Pasig City.
Barredo finished her day with an easy win over Anthea Marie Gonzalez, 21-8, 21-13, to go undefeated in three matches. The National University senior earlier took down Christel Rei Fuentespina, 21-6, 21-9, and dominated Angel Valle, 21-13, 21-11, to lead the women’s singles race.
The 22-year-old Barredo was happy to just compete again after almost a year. “I’m also happy that we have a tournament in preparation for the Southeast Asian Games,” she said.
A pair of fellow UAAP standouts in Jaja Andres and Mikaela De Guzman joined the UAAP Season 81 Rookie of the Year atop the standings at 3-0 for the day after winning over the same opponents.
UP’s Andres defeated Valle, 21-17, 21-10, then Gonzalez, 21-13, 21-13, before downing Fuentespina, 21-12, 21-13.
Meanwhile, Ateneo’s De Guzman opened her tournament with a win over Gonzalez, 21-17, 21-15, before winning past Fuentespina, 21-8, 21-7, and Valle, 21-8, retired, in that order.
The three will test their mettle against each other on Feb. 24 for a place in the final the following day.
Ros Pedrosa and age-group standout Jewel Albo paced their group in the men’s singles as both went unscathed for the day.
Pedrosa blanked Jefferson Oba-ob, 21-10, 21-14, before going through the wringer over former La Salle stalwart Kenneth Monterubio 22-20, 21-16.
On the other hand, Albo comfortably won past Jefferson Oba-ob, 21-10, 21-13, and then over Robert Ishmael Ramos, 21-8, 21-12.
Mark Anthony Velasco and RJ Oba-ob paced the other pool with similar 2-0 win-loss records.
Velasco scored a 21-23, 21-13 victory over Lance Vargas before sweeping JM Estrada, 21-13, 21-14, while RJ Oba-ob had to outlast Vargas in three, 20-22, 21-16, 21-8, before closing the day’s action with a win over Clarence Villaflor, 21-19.21-13.
A grand total of P200,000 is at stake for the winners of all four events in this tournament.