Lepaopao-Plaza leads winners of Gloria Santos badminton tilt

Jeffrey Lepaopao and Charles Plaza beat JR Batulan and Jaja Vequezo to win the premier Men’s doubles Level C crown of the Birthday Bash and Smash: The Gloria Santos Invitational Badminton Tournament held last Saturday at the Racquetzone Badminton Courts in Montebello Villa Hotel.

Lepaopao and Plaza struggled in the first set before prevailing, 21-19 then won the title outright when their opponents refused to continue playing after Batulan, a former varsity player of the University of the Visayas, suffered cramps with the score tied at 8-all in the second set.

Lepaopao and Plaza shared the champion’s purse worth P5,000 and each received a trophy while Batulan and Vequezo settled for the P3,000 runner-up prize.

Other winners of the P100,000 tournament were:

Men’s Level D: Champion – Nash Saycon and Roldan Andojar; Runner-up – Marco Aranas and Jimboy Cimafranca.

Men’s Level E: Champion – Jonathan Tuble and Angelo Ouano; Runner-up – June Seno and Ren-Ren Cabatingan.

Men’s Level F: Champion – Sidney Gonzales and Patrick James; Runner-up – Gerard Cosicol and Kenneth Añabieza.

Executive D: Champion: – Benjie Santos and Anthony Ave; Runner Up: Bobby Villareal and Ramil

Women’s Level D: Champion: – Mitch Fernandez and Jovilyn Espiegol; Runner-Up: Chieko Saito and Irish

Women’s Level E: Champion: May Arias and Loida; Runner-Up – Pennylope Ong and Grace Zafra

Women’s Level F: Champion: Grace Lopez and Tata Montero; Runner-Up: Kiara Alonzo and Babette Alonzo

Mixed Level D: Champion: Ej Arquillano and Veronica Floro; Runner-Up: Nash Saycon and Jessa Lagat.

Mixed Level E: Champion: Angelo Ouano and Jessa Diamante; Runner-Up: Hazel Libato and Mac-Mac Hilton.

Mixed Level F: Champion: Grace Lopez and Dexter; Runner-Up: Jm Castro and Mitchie Sy.

Exciting prizes such as badminton shirts, bags, shoes and rackets were also raffled off during the tournament.