Pioneer Badminton qualifying tourney up at Mandaluyong

The Pioneer Badminton summer tournament will hold its final leveling playdate today at the Pioneer Badminton courts in Mandaluyong City.

The event will serve as the last qualifying round to determine the category of each player when the tournament fires off April 3-4.

Pioneer Badminton’s Edmin Tarriela said the event would be followed by the Epson Summer Camp slated on April 12-May 3 (first batch) and May 10-May 31 (second batch).

Tournament sponsors include Epson, the Philippine Daily Inquirer, 89.9 DWTM, Regatta, Whistlestop, Sunrise Hotel, Discovery Spa and Yehey.com.

Pioneer badminton had its initial screening of participants last week when over a hundred badminton enthusiasts trooped to the venue.

"We have limited the number of participants in the tournament from 240 to 260 to keep competition at a high level," said Tarriela, who also organized three high-caliber tournaments last year.

Interested parties may call 746-0828 or 638-5343 for details.

Participants for the Epson Summer Camp should enroll before April 12.

Camp director Eg Lim will facilitate the Epson Summer Camp along with former national teammates Malvin Alcala and Steven Yan.

With 10 training sessions per batch, Lim and the other coaches try to zero in on the physical conditioning and motor skills development highly required of the sport.

Physical conditioning modules will concentrate on stamina, endurance, flexibility, agility, muscle tone and hand, eyes, legs coordination while the skill aspect delves on proper footwork, court coverage, stroke refinement and shot variety.