BCT rules DAPRISA Games ’24 high school badminton tourney with 2 gold, 2 silver
By Stephanie Anne Rabe and Peter Austin Tambirao, The Spark
Brokenshire College Toril (BCT) retained its title as DAPRISA Games Badminton champion as it concluded its campaign in the high school category of the event with multiple medals including two gold, two silver, and a fourth-place finish.
Fighting in the High School Doubles Boys category, John Lhenard Mamacang and Rongel Kish Diaz aced their championship match against Collegio De San Ignacio’s (CSDI) Chua and Sinangote, 31–11.
Mamacang and Diaz’ combination of solid offense and defense locked CDSI’s ground as they delivered their hits.
With Diaz’ impressive speed and Mamacang’s surprise drops, the duo managed to launch powerful smashes giving their opponents hard time to bounce back.
However, in the middle of the match, CSDI’s duo managed to catch up shortly after continuous faults committed on the BCT side.
Nevertheless, BCT’s pair was quick to retrieve their lost momentum by playing defensively, forcing CSDI’s duo to commit faults and outs.
The play style of the BCT players stayed consistent until the 2nd half of the game, creating a significant gap and ending the score at 31–11.
Second Gold
Dione Jewel Cantorne clinched the second gold for BCT in a victory against Philippine Nikkei Jin Kai’s (PNJK) Sharese Muise in the Singles A Girls final match.
Muise managed to take the first interval of the game due to Cantorne’s frequent out-of-bounds hits giving PNJK the favor of three-point gap in the early round.
However, with an unbreaking will and mouth of words from Coach John Rey Nanca, Cantorne played aggressively smashing her way to catch up.
Grasping the effectiveness of the strategy, Cantorne persisted through the second half and ended the game victorious, 31–18.
Silver Haul
In the High School Boys Singles A, delegate DK Rophe Paniomogan earned a silver medal, overcoming the challenge of an injured hand.
In the heated championship match against CSDI’s Socor, Paniamogan could be seen having a hard time controlling his aims and swings, committing faults especially out-of-bounds hits.
Nevertheless, Paniomogan was able to catch up with Socor’s defense and managed to deliver powerful smashes.
Socor did not give in to Paniamogan keeping the rally waiting for Paniamogan to hit the cork outside.
The match finally ended, 31–19, in favor of Socor, awarding Paniamogan the silver prize.
Meanwhile, BCT’s Cheska Thea Tumpar and Kisses Macie Olarte collected the team’s second silver medal by placing second in the High School Girls Doubles category following their defeat against Philippine Nikkei Jin Kai’s (PNJK) Llajas and Pasay.
Tumpar and Olarte seemed to have exhausted their energy in their previous matches as they committed series of faults, outside-landing hits, and missed receives.
PNJK’s Llajas and Pasay became beneficiaries of BCT’s faults as they quickly widened the gap, 11–3.
Despite grinding the floor to catch up, PNJK was already out of reach as they bagged more points from Tumpar and Olarte’s misses.
The match ended in favor of PNJK, 31–8.
And a fourth-place finish
High School Boys Singles B delegate Earl Puerto bagged the fourth place in a fiercely contested fight-for-third match against Collegio De San Ignacio’s (CDSI) Cain Gracias.
Puerto and Gracias’ match started with an exchange of smashes and deceiving drops setting an on-par point standing.
In the second half, Puerto played safe waiting for his enemy to play out-of-bounds, but Garcia immediately countered by smashing the cork on Puerto limiting his defense and setting him to commit several faults.
The heated battle was concluded, 31–29, in favor of CSDI.