The Philippine Badminton Association (PBAD)-Smash Pilipinas national team went home with two golds and two bronzes from an impressive campaign in the recent Cameroon International 2022 at the Yaounde Sports Complex.
Alvin Morada and Yssa Leonardo took home the gold in the mixed doubles after thumping Sathish Kumar Karunakaran and Aadya Variyath, 21-19, 18-21, 22-20, while Christian Bernardo and Thea Pomar settled with a bronze after losing their semifinal to the same Indian pair in the mixed doubles, 17-21, 21-16, 14-21.
Morada and Bernardo then teamed up and breezed through the competition in the men’s double category, capping it off with a smashing 21-12, 21-13 Finals victory over Dhruv Rawat and Chirag Sen to claim the second gold medal for the Philippines in the tournament categorized as part of the International Series with a total prize pool of $10,000.
Pomar and Leonardo, meanwhile, settled for the nationals’ second bronze medal after yielding to the Indian pair and eventual champions Srivedya Gurazada and Poorvisha S Ram, 19-21, 14-21 in women’s doubles.
PBAD vice president Jude Turcuato was delighted with the results, saying that they are looking to gain more exposure and experience by joining more tournaments.
Meantime, the first-ever SMART Philippine Intercollegiate Badminton Championships will run this weekend, Sept. 10 and 11 at Centro Atletico in Cubao, Quezon City.
Eight colleges and universities — four teams from the UAAP, one from NCAA, and three from state colleges and universities, are divided into two groups in the tournament that will follow a mixed team-tie format.
Group A is comprised of the four teams from the UAAP namely University of the Philippines, University of Santo Tomas, Adamson University, and Ateneo while Group B will be made of San Beda University, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Rizal Technological University, and Technological University of the Philippines.