Filipino netters stay in contention

Jaime Llanes led the siege of the local bets in the one-day qualifier of the JVC Asian Badminton Championships yesterday, fashioning out a 15-12, 15-8 victory over Eskandari Jalal of Iran and staying in the hunt for berth in the main draw of the $150,000 event which fires off today at the Philsports Arena.

Jaime Junio, Arolas Amahit, Lloyd Escoses and Rodel Bartolome likewise pulled through with straight set victories in the morning matches to remain in contention for eight wildcards staked in the men’s singles event of the five-day championships sponsored by Japanese electronic giant JVC for the fifth straight year.

Junio outclassed Tarek Shalhoum of Syria, 15-6, 15-4; Amahit whipped Adam Nashwath of Malaysia, 15-4, 15-0; Escoses turned back Bassel Al-Durra, also of Syria, 15-0, 15-12; while Bartolome scored a walkover win over Syrian Nawras Abdell Wahed.

They hope to sustain the momentum at resumption of their bid today as Llanes, Junio, Amahit, Escoses and Bartolome vie for berths in the main draw against separate rivals at presstime last night.

A victory by Escoses against Malaysian Moose Nashid will set him up against top seed defending champion Taufik Hidayat in the first round of this event, which features at least five of the world’s top 10 players.

Other matches pit Bartolome against Macau’s O Man Tong, Llanes vs Leong Kin Fail, also of Macau, Junio against Bagheri Gholamreza of Iran, and Amahit vs Cambodian Siphanthan Long.

Action in the main draw starts at 9 a.m. today with top Filipino bet Kennivic Asuncion battling Malaysian Ismail Saman, and Ian Piencenaves clashing with Gupta A. Syyam in the first round. In ladies singles, Chona Rivera opens her bid against Japanese Anjo Mika and Paula Obanana tangling with Iva Vrova Al-Katrib of Syria.

But focus will be on the evening matches where the fancied bets begin their quest for top honors in this five-division event, organized by global marketing company IMG and backed by Yonex, Manila Galleria Suites, 103.5 K Lite, 96.3 DW Rock and the Philippine Star.

Chen Wang of Hong Kong plays Dilhani De Silva of Sri Lanka at 6 p.m. Wang emerged the top ranked player in the ladies singles of the JVC Asian Rankings.

JVC has put up the ranking system to inspire strong performances from the Asian players with those emerging No. 1 in their respective divisions from a series of qualifiers and tournaments receiving $1,000 plus a JVC product.

World No. 1 ladies doubles team of Gao Ling and Huang Sui of China also struts its wares tonight, along with top ranked men’s doubles tandem of Tony Gunawan and Halim Heryanto and mixed doubles defending champion Kim Dong Moon and Ra Kyung Min of Korea.

NBN 4 and IBC 13 will telecast the games on a delayed basis.

Tickets for the event are available at all National Bookstore branches, Robinson’s Galleria (Ortigas and Ermita), Music Museum and at the Tower Records outlets in Makati and Alabang. Tickets are pegged at P100, P200 and P300 during the elims and quarterfinals, while tickets for the opening day, semis and the finals are pegged at P200, P300 and P400, respectively. — Dante Navarro