No. 1 Nettasinghe smashes way thru Day 2

No. 1 seed Viren Nettasinghe of Sri Lanka advanced to the next round after his first match on Day 2 in the Badminton World Federation Grade 3 International Challenge tournament—the Crowne Plaza Northern Marianas Open 2024 yesterday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

He took on Chinese Taipei’s Hsin Tse Tu and escaped in two straight sets, 21-7, 22-20. The 21-year-old who qualified for his first Olympic games—the 2024 Paris Olympics—breezed through the first set. Then, Tu put his game face on in the second in an effort to force a tie-breaker and give Nettasinghe a run for his money.

Tu had the advantage and controlled the pace of the second set with the first few points, but halfway through, Nettasinghe bounced back and switched the momentum to his side. Tu didn’t back down though and the lead catapulted between the two until the end.

Then, at 20-all, Nettasinghe elicited an error at the net as Tu came up short to make it 21-20, then he solidified his first win of the tourney with an out-of-bounds return by Tu, 22-20.

At press time, not all matches are finished.

Day 2 was a mix of doubles and singles matches, with the NMI’s dynamic duo of Janelle Pangelinan and Nathan Guerrero’s first chance on the courts. They took on Japan’s Yuichi Shimogami and Sayaka Hobara, but fell, 4-21, 3-21.

Then, the NMI’s Paulo Quidato and Kyle Salcedo, who both advanced to the next round after winning their matches last Tuesday, faced their next challengers. Quidato took on Kwang Hee Heo and put up a fight, 10-21, 4-21. Then, Salcedo lost to Yu Cheng Chen, 4-21, 4-21.

In the singles matches, No. 2 Kuan Lin Kuo bested Edward Lau, 23-21, 21-13; No. 3 Riku Hatano lost to Cheng-Han Tsai, 21-17, 19-21; No. 4 Ryoma Muramoto beat Guam’s Allen Zeng, 21-4, 21-2; No. 5 Justin Hoh won over Garret Tan, 21-8, 21-16; and No. 7 Yu Huang defeated Zong Han Lee, 21-8, 21-6.

In the doubles matchups, Demond Samin and Arena Samin won over Kai Cheng and Yu Wei Peng, 21-16, 21-16; Bo Rong Chu and Ruo Lin plowed through Cheng Yang Hu and Kristine Deng; and Yun Seong An and Hye Jeong Kim won in three tough sets over Yu-Che Chen and Yuan Chi Liao, 19-21, 21-7, 21-12.

Then, Tidaporn Kleebyeesun and Nattamon Laisuan fought tooth-and-nail in the three sets against Ruo Lin Tsai and Yi Zhen Wang, 21-17, 15-21, 23-21; Yen-Chen Ting and Yi Zhen Wang dominated NMI’s Sernantie Jimenez and Shaina Malonzo, 21-4, 21-2; NMI’s Dave Odicta and Genelyn Lansangan fell to Daisuke Sano and Sorano Yoshikawa, 1-21, 3-21; Yueh Lin Chan and Hsin En Hung brought down NMI’s Jomari Azura and Trizian Canoza, 21-8, 21-7; and Guerrero and Ezekiel Macario lost to Yuto Noda and Kota Ogawa, 9-21, 2-21.

In an interview with Nettasinghe after his match, he said, “I feel quite better compared to my last tournaments which didn’t go too well. I think I feel well and prepared to play and overall just good.”

With his tough second set in which he almost gave way for a tie-breaking third set, he said, “I saw my opponent wanting to quickly get points, so I slowed the game a bit which made him have a lot of unforced errors. That’s how I got my points—from his mistakes.”

When asked how his mindset is heading into his next matches after his debut win in the tourney, he said that he’s feeling very positive and hopes he can do his best again today.

For Pangilinan, she said of her doubles match with Guerrero, “It was a really tough game. Me and Nate know what to do, but it was just really tough and honestly, now we know what we need to work on and how we can get better.”

On the NMI’s young team’s run in the tourney, the player/coach said, “The tournament has been really great. Half of the team are juniors and half the team are U19. I’m very happy that they’ve pushed their hardest… and I’m glad they’re having fun as well. With this experience, we’re hoping that they can be like [these international players] one day. They don’t just have to stop here—they can get better.”

As another two international badminton tournaments are hosted by the CNMI this year, she said, “it’s a great feeling to have it again. It gives us a lot of opportunities and also brings badminton out to the island. It also brings a lot of sports tourism to the island.”

Published by Saipan Tribune