B’Kara Smart Office Supplies (BSOS) commenced the second round on the same positive note as they finished the first. They entered the home match against Paola 1, as the only team which remained undefeated by winning all their first round encounters. The Reigning Champions were the favorites to take the double and continue on their path to retain the Mixed league Trophy for yet another year.
Unfortunately the team had to do without the services of Marica Micallef and Daniella Galea who are expected to miss out on the remainder of the season.
Paola 1 commenced by winning their mixed game against Stephen Ferrente and Yanika Polidano with a score of 13-21 13-21. Yanika has taken the opportunity to gain as much as possible by playing with her more experienced team mates who are tactically and technically more experienced than herself. As can be witnessed to date, this has complimented her graceful movement on court. While on the adjacent court BSOS replied positively with the win in the Men’s singles game. Rosta as usual played consistently to win against Paola’s veteran singles player Kenneth Vella, 21-13 21-12. While Kenneth run miles, Rosta was able to direct the shuttlecock with precision, to always keep the upper hand and complimented with some deceptive strokes, Rosta sometimes left Kenneth spellbound.
The ladies singles was contested by Fiorella M. Sadowsiki against Sarah Fava. Fiorella’s dominance in the women’s game, is evident in her determination and strict training regime, complimented with her international experience. Fiorella kept poised throughout the game and comfortably kept Sarah at bay, to win 21-12 21-10 to put Birkirkara ahead in the match 2-1 in games.
The Men’s doubles was expected to be an aggressive game with BSOS’s Rosta and Aldo Polidano taking on the youthful and energetic pair, Owen Grech and Matthew Abela. Although the latter tried their best to upset the home team, they could not surpass the opponents greater experience and eventually had to bow down to their opponents with two straight sets 21-11 21-4, leaving Birkirkara outright winners of the match by 3-1.
The final Women’s doubles game was to be a trivial encounter and would not affect the final results of the evening. This did not hinder the players aggressiveness throughout the sets. Fiorella and Yanika started gradually worked their way into the game, but gave too many opportunities to their opponents Jo’Anne Cassar and Sarah Fava to orchestrate and win the first set 17-21. The former pair then stepped up a notch to finally win the remaining two sets thus winning an entertaining game 21-16 21 -18. This left the final result of the Match at 4-1 in favour of BSOS.
With this win, BSOS leads the Da Vinci’s Mixed Team League and will only need only to win against the up and coming match against Luxol Top Choice, at home, on the 16th Feb, to clinch the title for yet another consecutive year with two matches left in hand to play.