Santos takes men’s B1 singles crown

Noli Santos clinched the men’s B1 singles championship in the 2011 IT&E Singles/Doubles Badminton Tournament after pulling off two upset wins over the weekend at the TSL Sports Complex.

Santos’ first surprised victory came in the semifinals when he ousted Pool A top finisher Saul Gargallo last Friday, 19-21, 21-17, 21-18. Before his semis outing against Santos, Gargallo went unbeaten in four games in the elimination round. Santos had an even 2-2 card in the round-robin competition.

Next up for Santos was Gary Bandoja, who was also undefeated in pool play, sweeping all his four matches in the elimination and extending the streak to five after outclassing Mario Diola in the semifinals.

In the championship match, Bandoja drew first blood, winning at 21-15 after capitalizing on his power hitting against Santos, who was a bit sluggish at the start of the match. Santos officiated a women’s singles finals before playing in his own title game and had no enough time to warm up for the Court 2 match. In contrast, Bandoja traded volleys and serves against Dick Guintu for several minutes at Court 3 while Santos was officiating.

In the second set, Santos must win to extend the finals and he did, as this time he was quick to return Bandoja’s good ball placement and withstood his ground against the latter’s power hits. Santos escaped with a 21-18 victory in the second set and completed the come-from-behind win with a 21-19 triumph in the deciding third set.

Four other title matches were played on Saturday night.

In the women’s C singles finals, Kim Boranah swept Irish Pagarao, 21-9, 21-12. Boranah advanced to the title match after beating Roma Barlao in the semis, while Pagarao prevailed over Cris Obaldo in the other Final Four pairing.

In the men’s C doubles finals, the tandem of Jerome Malasarte and Brandon Talania also needed only two sets to beat Dick Kho and Joel Ortega, 21-15, 21-19.

Clinching a doubles title too were Andrew Galvez and Rodwealth Espana, who stunned Narlou Achas and Dick Guintu in the men’s A doubles finals in straight sets, 21-11, 21-10. Galvez and Espana and Achas and Guintu arranged their title duel after downing Bandoja and Oh Inbog and Hapi Gabriel and Ezekiel Macario in the semifinals, respectively.

In the third singles finale of the night, Michelle Caleon went the distance to slip past Marylyn Montano in the women’s B singles title game, 21-17, 15-21, 21-19.

The remaining championship matches were played last night and results will be published in Saipan Tribune’s Tuesday edition.