Albo, De Guzman near PBO championships

ANTIPOLO, Philippines — National team standouts Jelo Albo and Mika de Guzman took a step closer to their respective bids for the men’s and women’s singles titles at the 2024 Philippine Badminton Open following their semifinal wins yesterday at the First Pacific Leadership Academy here.

Albo, the 20-year-old hometown bet, fended off the challenge of top seed RJ Oba-ob of the Philippine Air Force in 39 minutes of intense rallies, 21-12, 21-10, to move into the final of the men’s singles in this Philippine Super 500 tournament, sponsored by Smart, Mizuno, the Philippine Sports Commission, and the MVP Sports Foundation.

The UAAP Season 85 Rookie of the Year from UP guns for the crown versus Clarence Villaflor of Cadiz-JBA/Apacs, who dominated Ateneo’s Arthur Salvado Jr., 21-13, 21-16, in the other semifinal clash.

De Guzman, on her part, continued her impressive run towards defending her women’s singles title with a 21-10, 21-13 victory over National University’s Karylle Rio in just half an hour.

Despite the scoreline, the 2023 APACS Kazakhstan International Series champion praised Rio’s game, saying, “She did great. I know she is one of the top players at NU, and at the same time, I’m happy with my performance. Knowing na top players sila ng top schools, kailangan ko pong ilabas ‘yung 100 percent best ko.”

Another Lady Bulldog in Ysabel Amora challenges De Guzman in the finale.