De Guzman wins first international crown.
De Guzman captures first international crown
MIKA De Guzman broke through with her first international women’s singles title after conquest of India’s Arundhati Nagaraja Muddu in the final of the APACS Kazakhstan International Series 2023 last weekend at the Almatau Resort in Shymkent.
The tournament is part of the BWF International Series — a grade 3, level 2 series, which awards 2500 points to the winner.
The reigning two-time UAAP Most Valuable Player completed her dominant romp of the competition with a 40-minute victory against Muddu, 21-13, 21-17.
De Guzman, the fourth-seed in the tournament, earlier took down hometown bet Aisha Zhumabek in the Round of 16, 21-6, 21-5, and India’s Smit Toshniwal in the second round, 22-24, 27-25, 21-17.
The Ateneo student-athlete then quashed top-ranked Fatimath Nabaaha Abdul Razzaq, 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.
