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| Mika de Guzman |
Philippine badminton secured breakthroughs in a couple of international tournaments.
Two-time UAAP Most Valuable Player Mika de Guzman claimed her first international women's singles title this past weekend, the APACS Kazakhstan International Series 2023 at the Almatau Resort in the city of Shymkent in the Central Asian country.
In the path to winning this tournament, which is part of the BWF International Series, a grade 3, level 2 series, the Filipina fourth seed earned a first round bye, then easily took care of hometown bet Aisha Zhumabek in the second round, 21-6 21-5.
She eked out a 22-24 27-25 21-17 marathon in the quarterfinals against Indian netter Smit Toshniwal, before dispatching top seed Fatimath Nabaaha Abdul Razzaq of the Maldives in about half-an-hour, 21-6 21-6.
De Guzman would then triumph in the final against another Indian netter, Arundhati Nagaraja Muddu, 21-13 21-17 in a forty-minute skirmish. The Atenean gets a 2500-point boost with the result.
Meanwhile in Thailand, a few Filipino products of the Philippine Badminton Association's grassroots program found a bit of success at the BAT Pathumthani Junior International Series 2023, as JR Pandi and Mary Destiny Untal claimed the U17 mixed doubles title.
Both players are by-products of the Junior Philippine National Rankings series, which just concluded its tenth and final leg at Sta. Rosa, Laguna this past Sunday.
This leg saw Shan Clar and Althea Dawn Ocampo top its respective U19 singles crowns, while MJ Perez a double in U19 doubles with the National University rookie partnering with Gift Libanan in the boys and Niesha de Guzman in mixed.
Capping off the winners is the duo of Althea Princess Hernandez and Precious Libaton snapping up the girls doubles plum.
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