Good defense spelled the difference for Melvin Llanes and Jojo Mance when they managed to salvage themselves from the score of 15 until the end of the single-round robin-format, race to 21 scoring, when their much younger challengers, Alex Cuevas and Dodi Sertan, beleaguered by successive unforced errors, failed to steal the top rank of the Men’s Doubles-Open/Invitational Category’s Group 2, ending the “edge of the seat” match at 21-20 during the elimination games of the POWERADE Badminton Cup 2006 Men’s Doubles/Open-invitational category held last November 25 & 26 at Yonex Badminton Club in Mandaluyong.

Renato Reyes earned points through his accurate cross-court drop shots and exceptional net-play, setting-up his partner, Jess Alonso, to deliver power-packed smashes, dictating the pace of their match up to the score of 15 against Ronald and Rocky Magnaye. The Magnaye brothers, however, got back on their feet from the score of 8 and consistently pulled-off an impressive display of brawn and wits until the end of the match, grabbing the lead on group 1 elimination games of Men’s Doubles/Open-invitational category at 18-21.

Aside from cross-over in semi-final Men’s Doubles/Open-Invitational Category match of Llanes /Mance versus Reyes/Alonzo and Sertan/Cuevas versus Magnaye siblings, spearheading the bid for Mixed Doubles/Open-Invitational crown are the pairs of Jaime Junio/Irene Chiu versus Wilson Frias/Paula Obanana and Lloyd Escoses/Casey Ang Siy versus Ian Piencenaves/Liza Sormillo.

A whooping prize pot of more than one million pesos in cash and badminton products will be at stake when the qualifiers of all categories battle it out on December 2, namely: Men’s Doubles, Ladies’ Doubles, Mixed Doubles, Men’s Doubles-Open/Invitational and Mixed Doubles/Open-Invitational.

The mixed doubles event presented by distinguished shuttler, Minarti Timur, world rank number 1 from year 1995 to 2000, 2000 Sydney Olympics Silver Medalist, six time Indonesian Open champion and title-holder of international competitions such as Malaysia Open, German Open, Thailand Open, Japan Open, Dutch Open, All England Cup, and World Cup from 1995 to 2002, in tandem with Rudy Wijaya, former world rank number 5 and 1995 Russian Open title-holder, against Lili Wang and Kwee Tek Ming, former national team members of China and Indonesia, respectively, proved to be the big surprise last November 25 when the spectators witnessed a world class match, drawing immense applause and high approbation .

“With the help of MindWorks group who have been organizing the past highly successful POWERADE Badminton Challenges, and with the support of Viva Mineral Water, Coca-Cola Light and Kimoni Philippines as the official rackquet sponsor, everything is now all set for December 2 spectacle, and we hope to once again stage an event that would excite and thrill the local badminton community.” announces Jenny Cinco, Coke Export’s Group Brand Manager for Sport and Energy Drinks.