Escoses stuns Piencenaves, battles Asuncion in finals

Far Eastern U’s Lloyd Escoses pounced on top seed Ian Piencenaves’ meltdown in the first set and then kept the momentum in the second to pound out a stunning 15-13, 15-8 victory yesterday and crash into the men’s singles finals in the JVC Open Badminton Championships at the Glorietta Activity Center in Makati City.

Trailing most of the way at the onset of their duel on centercourt, Escoses never got discouraged and slowly but surely fought back from a 4-10 deficit to draw level at 12-all before sustaining his charge to boot out the bewildered defending champion who dominated the JVC-sponsored event last year.

The victory by the 23-year-old four-time MVP in the UAAP over the fancied Philippine Army bet came on the heels of his triumph over third-ranked Jaime Junio in the quarterfinal Monday with Escoses hoping to cap his amazing campaign with a victory over second seed Kennevic Asuncion in tomorrow’s finals.

Asuncion, the losing finalist last year, likewise struggled but completed the job just the same, holding off Arolas Amahit Jr., 15-13, 15-11, in the other semis clash in the centerpiece event of the tournament backed by Technomarine, Colours, Alaska, Rudy Project, Accel, Ayala Center, The STAR, Tokyo Tokyo, Lactacyd, 103.5 K-lite, Pioneer Insurance, Gosen and Victorinox Original Swiss Army Knives.

Unlike Piencenaves, defending champion Kennie Asuncion of Valle Verde proved unforgiving in the distaff side, whitewashing Ronnielie Kagalingan, 15-0, 15-0, to arrange a title showdown with second seed Irene Chiu of Premiere Club/Ateneo, who needed an extra set to thwart Anna Ledesma, 11-9, 6-11, 11-7.

The finals in four divisions will be held tomorrow starting with the corporate category pitting AB Leisure against Philippine Star to be followed by the title duels in the juniors, elite and veterans divisions.

On tap in today’s matches are the semifinal round of the collegiate and the juniors divisions with the collegiate finals to be held Sunday along with exhibition matches among celebrities and between the Philippines and Indonesia to be followed by the awards rites and celebrity games. For details and other results, visit the event’s website at www.jvcbadminton.com.

Meanwhile, the finals of the various categories will be telecast on IBC-13 on Aug. 7 (9-11 p.m.-veterans, corporate), Aug. 8 (7-9 p.m.-juniors, collegiate) and Aug. 9 (8-10 p.m.-elite, category); and on Solar Sports on Aug. 17-19 (10-12 mn) and Aug.27-29 (8-10 p.m.).