MIKA De Guzman nailed her first international women’s singles title by stunning India’s Arundhati Nagaraja Muddu in the finals of the APACS Kazakhstan International Series 2023 last weekend at the Almatau Resort in Shymkent.
The reigning two-time UAAP Most Valuable Player completed her dominant romp with a 21-13, 21-17 win.
She needed 40 minutes to wrap up the match as both played tooth and nail, trading fierce shots to the delight of the crowd.
But through sheer determination, De Guzman finally prevailed.
The tournament is part of the BWF International Seriesm a grade 3, level 2 series, which awards 2500 points to the winner.
The fourth-seeded De Guzman outhustled local bet Smit Toshniwal in the second round (22-24, 27-25, 21-17) before beating Aisha Zhumabek in the Round of 16 (21-6, 21-5).
The Ateneo student-athlete then brought top-ranked Fatimath Nabaaha Abdul Razzaq down to eath with a 21-6, 21-6 in 29 minutes to arrange the championship match with Muddu.
Meanwhile, junior standouts JR Pandi and Mary Destiny Untal also brought accolades after winning the U17 mixed doubles gold in the BAT Pathumthani Junior International Series 2023.
As part of the grassroots development program of the Philippine Badminton Association, Pandi and Untal led 41 other junior shuttlers in this competition in Thailand.
Pandi and Untal were also products of the Junior Philippine National Rankings series that continued its ten-legged series of tournaments for young athletes in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, which concluded last Sunday.
Shan Clar and Althea Dawn Ocampo paced the winners of this Laguna leg, victors of the U19 Boys and Girls Singles titles.
MJ Perez, a rookie out of National University, bagged two titles in the U19 Boys Doubles with Gift Libanan and in the U19 Mixed Doubles with Niesha De Guzman, while Althea Princess Hernandez and Precious Libaton took the Girls Doubles plum in the same age group.
