Marquee badminton tourney unwraps in Gameville

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is set to host a world-class badminton tournament for the first time as the Philippine International Challenge 2026 gets underway with the qualifying rounds today at Gameville Central Park in Mandaluyong City.

The International Challenge is a Grade 3, Level 1 tournament on the Badminton World Federation Continental Circuit, alongside the International Series and Future Series. The event awards ranking points that count toward the BWF World Rankings.

“The association sent bids to host these tournaments, a proposal to the BWF through Badminton Asia, to host an International Challenge and an International Junior Series this year,” said Philippine Badminton Association secretary-general Shawntel Nieto, as the country prepares to stage a BWF-sanctioned tournament for the first time.

“Gratefully, they accepted, and with the support of and with the go-signal from boss MVP (Manny V. Pangilinan), we were able to plan out and bring it to life. So, we’re very excited about that.”

The tournament will run until Aug. 2, with an International Junior Series tournament set to follow the following week at the same Mandaluyong venue.

Leading the men’s singles field is Kazakhstan’s Dimitri Panarin, who returns to the Philippines after his main draw appearance in the 2022 Badminton Asia Championships.