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."

Badminton Asia set to commence

Badminton Asia

Even with the threat of the Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak, it remains all systems go for the 2020 Badminton Asia Team Championships this week at the historic Rizal Memorial Coliseum in Manila.

Both Badminton Asia and the Philippine Badminton Association have taken all measures needed to ensure the safety of the players and audience amidst the developing situation, highlighted by the non-postponement of the event.

PBA 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."

He adds, "The world's best badminton players have been vocal in saying that they are ready to put on a show come the Asian Team Championships -- and this includes our national team who has been training hard for the past few months for this event."

Even with these measures, both the men's and women's teams of China and Hong Kong, as well as the women's team of India have opted to not participate in the biennial meet, which will prompt a redraw of the groupings on Monday, February 10, during the coaches' meeting at the nearby Century Park Hotel in Manila.

The men's division had both China and Hong Kong in Group B alongside Thailand, while in the women's division, Hong Kong was in Group W with Malaysia and Japan, while India was slotted alongside Korea and Kazakhstan in Group X.

The Badminton Asia Team Championships is backed by SMART Communications Inc., MVP Sports Foundation, Leisure and Resorts World Corporation, Cignal, and TV5.

The Philippines set for 2020 Badminton Asia Championships hosting

In less than a month, the Philippines will be hosting another major regional event, with the Rizal Memorial Coliseum set to be the venue for third Badminton Asia Team Championships.

Scheduled to take place on February 11-16, it serves as not just a qualifier for the Thomas Cup and Uber Cup in May, but also for the Olympics, with shuttlers attempting to accumulate the points needed to be able to make it for Tokyo 2020.

According to Badminton Asia Chief Operating Officer Chit Boon Saw, he sees the country going through another boom in the sport, which he believes that it is a perfect opportunity to have the meet take place here.

He shares, "I think the Philippines is one of the fastest developing nations in badminton. And it is good to bring an event like this in a developing badminton country." He also adds, "The game can be promoted to the masses better with an event like this."

Almost 300 Asian shuttlers are expected to come to the country, led by defending champions Indonesia (men's) and Japan (women's).

There will be fifteen teams in the men's division and fourteen in the women's division. The squads will be divided into groups of four, with the top two of each group advancing into the knockout rounds.

Ties will consist of three singles matches and a couple of doubles matches. Win three of these matchups and one can clinch the tie.

The Philippines only won one tie in the previous edition of the Badminton Asia Team Championships, going 1-2 in the men's division and 0-3 in the women's side when it took place in Malaysia back in 2018.

Saw views the tournament as a chance for the local competitors to secure much-needed match experience, says "I hope the Philippine team takes this as an opportunity to learn and grow in the team event. As you know, there are not a lot of team tournaments in the world so this will be a good opportunity to learn on your home court."

He also believes that the Philippine Badminton Association will be able to make the 2020 edition of the tourney a success.