By Jaime Joshua A. Frias II
Contributor
ILIGAN City ― Xavier University’s badminton women’s team fell short of expectations to a gold medal finish but gave XU its first medal in the week-long Mindanao Peace Games (MPG) 2024 on June 2.
The team comprising an all-freshmen squad in Shazzney Faith Lim, Psalm Yu, Mary Angeli Talian, and Crístel Torres settled for a bronze medal after defeating Northwestern Mindanao State College of Science and Technology, 2-1 in the badminton ladies’ team event.
XU failed to exact revenge on Fr. Saturnino Urios University for its elimination round loss but could only draw closer to a thrilling deciding third set in the semifinal crossover.
Newcomer Palawan State University ruled the badminton event unscathed after besting all teams coming its way. PSU posted a clean 6-0 win-loss record in the elimination round before defeating NMSCST and FSUU in the semifinal and final, respectively.
“I am still proud of my girls. They are still freshmen and they will experience those games and I know they will mature on this in the next edition of MPG,” said coach Zofea Abellanosa-Briosos.
Meanwhile, XU’s women’s basketball, chess, and table tennis teams are in strong contention for a gold medal finish as of this writing.
The wards of coach Janeth Yanez signaled the alarm after virtually clinched the semifinal with one more game left in the elimination round.
The XU hoopbelles tote a clean 3-0 slate after beating La Salle University of Ozamis, 54-30 on Sunday. They will face St. Peter’s College of Iligan next.
“We have a strong chance to finish with gold but we are still waiting all the elimination rounds to whom we will face in the semifinal,” said Yanez.
XU women’s chess team made a surprising performance after trailing in second behind leader NMSCST in the team event.
NMSCST led with 9 points after the penultimate fourth round, while XU and FSUU tallied 8 points and 7.5 points, in that order.
XU will need to pull a 3-point win or more in the final fifth round on Monday to secure the gold medal.
“We did not expect from chess but they made a statement, owing that they were formed in the last minute,” said XU athletic director Jessica Hojas-Esparrago.
The lady netters of coach Julie Castillon landed second in their bracket behind leader PSU to reach the seminal.
From there, they will face NMSCST while PSU takes on FSUU.
XU footbelles and volleybelles are still struggling to join the others in the medal hunt.
XU’s cream of the crop, the karatedo team, will make its debut on Monday and they are noted with its marksman to win medals.
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