Young badminton star Lina Tsukagoshi dominates U19, open champs

Junior national team player and rising badminton star Lina Tsukagoshi put on a dominant performance in both the IT&E NMI U19 National Championships 2025 and the Shirley’s Coffee Shop NMBA Open Championships 2025 held at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

On the final day of the U19 tournament Thursday, the 15-year-old collected wins in every event she entered—singles, doubles, and mixed doubles.

In the U19 women’s singles division, Tsukagoshi competed in a five-player bracket and quickly set the tone in the final against Amy Park. She dominated the opening set by scoring nine consecutive points on her way to a 21-6 win, then followed with a 21-8 victory in the second set to secure her first gold medal of the tournament.

Tsukagoshi added her second U19 gold in the women’s doubles alongside partner and fellow junior national teammate Shaina Malonzo. The duo showed strong chemistry and sharp court coverage, defeating Shemaria Hecaro and Yuxi Zhang in straight sets, 21-9, 21-4.

Her third U19 title came in mixed doubles, where she teamed up with Nolan Nate. They defeated Jude Mallari and Genelyn Lansangan, 21-16, 21-19, holding off a late comeback attempt in the second set to close out the match.

In the open tournament, Tsukagoshi did it again by winning the open singles and women’s doubles events. She defeated Lansangan in straight sets, 21-9, 21-20, to claim the women’s singles open title.

Then, despite being singles rivals, Tsukagoshi and Lansangan paired seamlessly in the women’s doubles open. The pair captured the championship by defeating sisters Nicole and Monique Mascarinas in straight sets, 21-14, 21-9.

By the end of both tournaments, Tsukagoshi had solidified herself as a force to be reckoned with in the local badminton scene.

After the U19 tournament, she said that she recently came back from a badminton camp in Thailand, and used what she learned in the tournament. She added that winning the tournament felt good, but that it would be great and more fun if there was more competition and girls who play badminton locally. She then said, “I’m grateful to have opportunities to go off island and train to be a better player, and hopefully one day I could go off island to go and play in international tournaments.”

In other results, the U19 men’s singles champion was Ean Kris who defeated Jude Mallari in three sets, 21-19, 16-21, 21-16. In U19 men’s doubles, Mallari and Dave Odicta won the title over Evan Seguritan and Minul Hoque, 21-13, 21-17.

For Mallari, who also won the men’s open singles, he said after the U19 tournament in which he played all events, “For my games, I just kept pushing even though I was cramping already. Especially for my singles game, I played three sets and fun fact, I just joined singles for fun to see how far I can go but I’m surprised I even reached finals.”

As for other results in the open tourney, in the men’s singles open, Mallari claimed the championship after beating Minul Hoque in three sets, 20-21, 21-13, 21-16. In the men’s doubles open, Jordan Pangilinan and Ezekiel Macario dominated Minul Hoque and Lance Gallardo, 21-7, 21-6.

In the mixed doubles open, Daniell Pablo and Janelle Pangilinan defeated Andreau Galvez and Monique Mascarinas, 21-10, 21-16.

Pangilinan, national team coach and player, teamed up with Pablo for the first time. “It’s really great to see other players as well improve,” said Pangilinan. Pablo, for his part, said, “Everything turned out differently, so what we did, we played everything the best we can so we could win.”

As for the youth’s performances in both tourneys, she said, “honestly, I’m very proud of all the kids. I’m very proud—win or lose, you know, I’m very proud of [how far] they’ve come… I hope that they will continue badminton in the next few years.”

Finally, in the 35-and-over division, Vilma Reyes and Malou Malasarte won the women’s doubles title, while Vilma Reyes and Ferdie Arago captured the mixed doubles championship.