Download - Thirdtimestillacharm - territorystories.nt.gov.au · peranca Barreto in the under-19 girls singles. Aniceto and Barreto how-ever were knocked over by the experienced pair Tseng and

32 NT NEWS. Tuesday, August 6, 2013. www.ntnews.com.au

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Third time still a charm

Isabel Aniceto, 17, displayed great fighting spirit to overcome Jane Tseng in the final of the NT Open Ladies singles Picture: DANIEL HARTLEY-ALLEN

BADMINTONHOWTHEY FARED

Junior results at 2013NTBadmintonOpen.Under-19 boys singles final: TomOcampo d Bowen Viravong 31-21.Under-19 girls singles final: Isabel Aniceto defeated Esperanca Barreto 31-22.Under-19 boys doubles final: TomOcampo/Bowen Viravong d Alex Cao/Jessi Vicencio31-24.Under-19mixed doubles final: TomOcampo/Isabel Aniceto d Chris Robins/EsperancaBarreto 31-25.Under-15 boys singles final: Alex Cao d Romy Puhalovich 31-26.Under-15 girls singles final: Elysia Viravong d Jemma Vicencio 31-20.Under-15 boys doubles final: Alex Cao/MatthewWilliams d Romy Puhalovich/Harry Le31-20.Under-15 girls doubles final: Elysia Viravong/Bernadete Aniceto d Jemma Vicencio/Kim Fitzgerald 31-24.Under-15mixed doubles final: Alex Cao/Elysia Viravong d Romy Puhalovich/JemmaVicencio 31-23.Under-13 boys singles final: Romy Puhalovich d James DeLosa 31-11.Under-13 girls singles final: Elysia Viravong d Bernadete Aniceto 31-30.Under-13 boys doubles final: Lester Tendilla/YuXuan Zheng d Edmundo Barreto/James DeLosa 31-26.Under 13 girls doubles final: Bernadete Aniceto/Alex Delosa d Elysia Viravong/KarlieHaskard 31-28.Under-13mixed doubles final: James DeLosa/Elysia Viravong d Edmundo Barreto/Bernadete Aniceto 31-25.

TOURNAMENT top seedWilliam Ponsonby won histhird consecutive NT OpenMen’s Badminton singles titleafter downing second seedSaidina Pawero in a closelyfought final.

The demanding two-set21-16 22-20 victory was just re-ward for a tough training rou-tine by Ponsonby, who is aim-ing to make his mark at theNationals in Geraldton, West-ern Australia, next month.

The win by Ponsonby putPawero’s desire for a 10th NTOpen on hold for another year.

Pawero exacted some re-venge on his arch-rival when

he teamed with Jacob Modohto take the Open Men’s doub-les title over Ponsonby andWei Kian in the closest of fin-als matches 21-19 21-19. Kianalso grabbed a slice of the sil-verware in the Open MixedDoubles when he and JaneTseng defeated the Pawero/Nina Ruzsicska combinationin three sets 21-17 17-21 23-21.

Another big winner at theChampionships was 17-year-old Isabel Aniceto, who dis-played great fighting spirit toovercome Jane Tseng in thefinal of the NT Open Ladiessingles 19-21 21-17 21-15.Aniceto’s determinationagain shone through whenshe was able to defeat Es-

peranca Barreto in the under-19 girls singles.

Aniceto and Barreto how-ever were knocked over bythe experienced pair Tsengand Aminah Puhalovich 21-1218-21 21-16 in the Open Doub-les decider.

‘‘I was runner-up last yearand this was my first NTOpen singles title, which wasa goal before the tournamentstarted,’’Aniceto said.

‘‘My next goal is to get top10 place at the Nationals laterin the year — I don’t want togo and lose.’’

The boys under-19 title waskeenly fought between NT re-presentatives after a success-ful, under-19 national carni-

val last month in Hobart,where they finished 4th.

The experienced gained byTom Ocampo at the Nationalsshone through and he tookthe NT title, defeating BowenViravong 31-21.

NT badminton coachPawero was delighted withthe performance of the jun-iors at the tournament.

‘‘We’ve got under-15 andunder-13 Nationals to lookforward to later in the year,’’he said. ‘‘The large turnoutand high quality of juniors atthis tournament gives megreat confidence in achievingthe goal of having NT juniorplayers with an Australiantop 10 ranking.’’

Hardi Territorians run rings around rivals at Townsville festivalATHLETICS

By IANBUTTERWORTH

A RECORD field of Territoryathletes competed in the 15thannual Townsville RunningFestival with Darwin pairLucie Hardiman and DarrenPeacock winning the wom-en’s marathon and men’s

half-marathon respectively.Although running in the

event for the first time, Hardi-man, 42, went into the race asfirm favourite to take thewomen’s title. This was de-spite competing against ath-letes from every Australianstate and internationals fromJapan, Korea, China, Papua

New Guinea, New Zealandand Canada.

She didn’t disappoint andcompleted the 42.2km in 3hr4min 13secs — three minutesahead of second placed Japan-ese runner Rumi Otani withSusan Crowe (Cairns) third, afurther 12 minutes away.

‘‘I started off at a fairly good

pace and was keen to holdthat the whole way, but Ifound it a bit hotter in thesecond half. That slowed medown a bit, but I was able tostay ahead of the other wom-en and I’m pleased with thefinal result,’’ said Hardiman.

‘‘It’s a gorgeous course withpretty views and scenery

particularly when the sunwas rising.

‘‘It’s also nice and flatwhich I always appreciate.’’

Peacock claimed first placein Queensland CountryHealth Half Marathon in1:14.38 to beat Cairns runnerNick Carling (second, 1:15.12)and Townsville’s Simon

O’Regan (third, 1:15.30).Peacock also enjoyed the

course, saying the conditionswere perfect for his event.

‘‘I kept pace with a group ofabout five and gauged myselfagainst them for the first halfof the race, but at about 15km,I felt really good and put in abit of a surge, which paid off.’’