Philippine Badminton Open set for return in February

PBad officials Christopher Quimpo, Imee Moreno, and Jude Turcuato

After a three-year break, the Philippine Badminton Open is set to resume next year.

The Dragonsmash Badminton Center in Chino Roces Avenue, Makati City will serve as the venue for the competition this coming February 20-26.

Back in 2019, the competition served as a test event for the 30th SEA Games at the Muntinlupa Sports Complex. For the 2023 edition, it will be part of the national team's preparations for the 32nd iteration, which will take place later in the year in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Imee Moreno, who will serve as the PBO project director, shares, "The Intercollegiate Tournament was able to prove to us that there are a lot of players that have a lot of potential here in our country. We are very much excited about what is in store for us in the world of badminton."

The Cagayan de Oro councilor adds, "The Philippine Badminton Open is a milestone for us because this will be the start of our national ranking system for our players. This is where we can help develop and hone the skills of our players. This is also through this tournament that we can support our national team players, especially as they prepare for the SEA Games and other international tournaments."

The Philippine Badminton Association also bared that it will introduce a rankings system, designating the PBO as a Super 500 tournament, with a PhP 1,000,000 pot. PhP 70,000 will be rewarded to the singles winners (men's and women's) and PhP 150,000 to the doubles winners (men's, women's, mixed).

The NSA considers the PBO as one of the many domestic competitions they are planning for the upcoming year, with the world slowly returning to pre-pandemic levels.

PBaD Secretary-General Christopher Quimpo shares, "The Philippine Badminton Open has been there since I joined PBAD. The first tournament was back in 2016 and we had 500-plus players compete. After, the last time we held this was right before the 2019 SEA Games. It's very welcoming that we will have the Philippine Open again next year. A lot of learnings and clamor for tournaments happened since then. But a question was raised, 'Who's really the best in our country?' And we hope that we can find them in this tournament."

PBad vice president Jude Turcuato adds, "On behalf of the MVP Sports Foundation, chairman Manny V. Pangilinan, and our president Al S. Panlilio, badminton is one of the sports that we identified where the Filipino can be a world-class athlete. Getting into that level takes a lot of training, repetition, and mindset. It will take the full force of the badminton community to get it done. It used to be one of the country's most popular sports, and the community has shown that it can rise once again. This tournament will jumpstart what we want to do for the calendar year."

Interested participants can register through the tournament portal, https://tinyurl.com/PHIBadmintonOpen. Entry fee is PhP 1,000, which includes a shirt, shuttlecock, and court fees. Deadline for registration is February 5, 2023.