Filipinos miss out on making BAC main draw

By Ivan Saldajeno

MUNTINLUPA—The Philippine team to the Smart Badminton Asia Championships had a rough start to its campaign as some of the team's top guns missed the main draw following the qualifying phase on Tuesday at the Muntinlupa Sports Center.

Mika De Guzman suffered a hea9rtbreaker to start the day as she fell prey to Mohd Khairul Myisha of Malaysia.

Despite flashing her brilliance in Set 1, De Guzman lost steam later in the match and lost, 21-13, 15-21, 14-21.

De Guzman finished her stint with a straight-set loss to Indonesia's Komang Ayu Cahya Dewi, 23-25, 8-21.

Dewi eventually made it to the main draw after beating Myisha, 21-18, 21-9.

Ros Pedrosa had a better start, beating Bahrain's Adnan Ebrahim, 21-19, 21-8.

Pedrosa, however, missed the cut after bowing to Dmitriy Panarin of Kazakhstan, 14-21, 8-21.

Jewel Albo was also shut out in his own qualifying bid after losing to China's Lei Lanxi (17-21, 15-21) and Hong Kong's Chan Yin-Chak (8-21, 10-21).

Lei beat Chan in three sets, 21-16, 13-21, 21-11, to enter the main draw.

Janelle Andres was the last singles player to go as she fell to Indonesia's Stephanie Widjaja, 10-21, 8-21.

Widjaja's win over Andres sealed her place in the main draw as she earlier defeated Fathimah Abdul-Razzaq, 21-4, 21-8.

Andres ended her campaign on a high note after edging Abdul-Razzaq, 21-17, 21-7.

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