Philippines lucky in Badminton Asia re-draw

Badminton Asia

The Philippines believes it managed to secure some luck when the redraw for the 2020 Badminton Asia Team Championships took place on Monday, February 10.

The redraw was needed after the non-participation of China and Hong Kong in both divisions and India in the women's division.

The hosts, composed of Joper Escueta, Ariel Magnaye, Alvin Morada, Solomon Padiz, Jr., Paul John Pantig, Ros Pedrosa, Arthur Salvado, and Lanz Zafra, are now into Group C alongside Chinese-Taipei and Singapore after being slotted originally alongside Indonesia and India.

Men's head coach Ronald Magnaye shares, "Even if the grouping is a little lighter compared to our original group, we still have a mountain to climb especially Chinese-Taipei has one of the top players in the world in Chou Tien Chen."

Group B contains India, Malaysia, and Kazakhstan, whilst getting free rides into the quarterfinals are Indonesia and Korea in Group A and Japan and Thailand in Group D. Both groups will still have to go through the motions with their group stage matchups for seeding purposes.

In the women's side, the hosts (composed of Nicole Albo, Sarah Barredo, Mika de Guzman, Geva de Vera, Ysay Leonardo, Chanelle Lundo, Bianca Carlos, and Thea Pomar) are slotted in Group Y alongside fellow Southeast Asian squads Thailand and Indonesia.

Securing berths into the quarterfinal rounds are Malaysia and Japan (Group W), Korea and Kazakhstan (Group X), and Chinese-Taipei and Singapore (Group Z). Those teams will still need to play their matches against each other for seeding purposes.

The tournament, which is backed by SMART Communications Inc., MVP Sports Foundation, Leisure and Resorts World Corporation, Cignal, and TV5, serves as a qualifier for Thomas Cup (men) and Uber Cup (women) that will take place later this year in Denmark.

Organizers have assured both the players and the public that all measures have been taken to ensure everyone's safety, in light of the Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak.

Philippine Badminton Association secretary-general Christopher Quimpo shares, "We can assure to the players and the Filipino people that their safety is put on a premium to ensure the world-class staging of this event."