Castilo, Vivas complete Bingo Bonanza ‘double’

MANILA, Philippines - Gelita Castilo teamed up with Malvinne Alcala as the Allied Victor bets dominated Smash Pilipinas’ Aires Montilla and Kristelle Salatan, 21-11, 21-10, to annex the women’s doubles plum in the P1.5 million Bingo Bonanza National Open badminton tournament at the Rizal Memorial Badminton Center late Sunday.

Castilo and Alcala complemented well with their smashes, drop shots and superb defense and needed just 25 minutes to finish off their second-seed rivals in the quickest duel in the five-finals matches closing out the four-day ranking championship sponsored by Bingo Bonanza.

The triumph, worth P120,000, also completed Castilo’s double victory in the event organized by EventKing Corp. after the FEU freshman repulsed second seed Sarah Barredo, 21-17, 14-21, 21-19, in women’s singles final.

Castilo and Alcala earlier toppled the top seeded tandem of Jessie Francisco and Christine Inlayo, also of Smash Pilipinas, 21-16, 21-17, while the Montilla-Salatan pair edged Patricia Barredo and Joella de Vera, also of Smash, 19-21, 21-15, 21-19, in the semis.

Paul Vivas also swept the doubles crowns as he partnered with Peter Magnaye and upended top seed Joper Escueta and Ronel Estanislao, 21-17, 21-23, 21-14, to nail the men’s doubles title also worth P120,000.

Vivas and Magnaye, who became the first Filipino pair to win the Swiss International Juniors title recently, recovered their touch in time, outplaying Escueta and Estanislao in the third set to wrap up their 50-minute encounter.

Vivas earlier teamed up with Inlayo to defeat Magnaye and Francisco, 21-13, 21-19, to bag the mixed doubles plum in the event sanctioned by the Philippine Badminton Association.