Malvinne Ann Alcala continued to gain recognition and ranking points abroad, bagging the women’s singles crown in the 2011 Li-ning Australia Juniors at the Ken Kay Badminton Stadium in Wendouree, Australia, on Sunday. The Philippines’ leading player and winner of last year’s Singapore Youth International Badminton Championships, Alcala beat top seed Wendy Chen of Australia in the semis and dominated third seed Fiona Seah of Singapore, 21-8, 21-9, in the finals of the weeklong event which gathered some of the top juniors in the Asia-Pacific region.
The 16-year-old Alcala turned back local bet Sarah Wong, 21-14, 21-17, in the round of 32 then routed another Australian, Maddie Stapleton, 21-11, 21-9, to advance to the quarters.
Facing another local rival, fifth seed Verdet Kessler, Alcala kept her winning form and essayed a 21-15, 21-10 romp then poured it all out in the semis to topple the top-ranked Chen, 16-21, 21-17, 21-17.
The reigning national champion, who also reached the quarterfinal round in the recent New Zealand International Challenge had little trouble in disposing of Seah for the crown.
Alcala, however, fell short of a golden double as she and teammate Theodore Christopher Matthew Co settled for second place in the mixed doubles event, losing to Singapore’s No. 2 Terry Hae and Joline Chua, 16-21, 11-21.
The Philippine duo beat Australia’s Brayden Allan and Krystel Oodoomansaib, 21-12, 21-9, in the round of 32, trampled Aaron Chu and Buddhima Fernando, 21-18, 21-16, in the next round then upended the fifth-seeded pair of Sawan Serasinghe and Gronya Somerville, 21-17, 21-18, in the semifinals.
They actually stunned the top-seeded tandem of Asher Richardson and Maddie Stapleton of Australia, 21-14, 18-21, 21-13, in the semis but fell short of their bid against the talented Singaporean pair in the finals.
In other results, Co and Reden Cuden won over Australia’s Matt Nevett and Lucas Rais-Colvin, 21-12, 21-18, in the round of 32 but bowed to Chew Hu-wen and David Nojam, 21-19, 17-21, 16-21, in the Last 16 phase of the mens’ doubles.
Co reached the round of 16 stage in the men’s singles, beating Brendan Tang, 21-12, 26-24, but lost to Singapore’s Leslie Teng, 18-21, 12-21. Reden bowed to Australia’s James Dahni, 21-17, 14-21, 17-21.
In Photo: Malvinne Ann Alcala is fast gaining international recognition.
