The Varsitarian

SHE HURDLED every roadblock but the last.

Season 70 Most Valuable Player Rose Anne de la Cruz may have rampaged through a crowd of lightweights en route to booking a finals ticket in the Dunlop Open women’s badminton tournament.

But dominating a seasoned member of the national team proved unlikely as she absorbed a clinical 19-21, 10-21 loss in the singles championship last June 6 at the Powerhouse courts in Makati.

“My fight was quite exhausting,” De la Cruz told the Varsitarian. “I had to go against a national team member whose moves were simply a lot better than mine.”

Donning the defensive cloak to parry the aggressive offense of Irene Chui, De la Cruz looked posed to continue her flawless run. But a barrage of unplayable flyballs and dropshots from her cat-quick opponent found the Lady Shuttler scrapping in a 6-12 hole.

Still, the 19-year-old De La Cruz was unfazed, translating Chui’s errors into a four-point swing to chop the lead by a whisker, 15-16.

But the resilient Chiu returned the favor, launching a 3-0 counter-salvo to cop the first set.

Chui opened the second set in lopsided fashion, taking a 6-0 lead, which she later turned into a 9-20 affair via a 5-0 attack to seal the deal.

Back in the semifinals, Dela Cruz dispatched Rina Batuigas of Philippine Star, 21-13, 21-7, her fifth straight win in the tournament before facing Chiu in the finals.

In the 18 and below girl’s singles finals, Lady Shuttler Malou Gaspar bowed to Alin Ramos of the Dunlop Whackers a 17-21, 10-21. H.J.D. Brobo