Asuncions rank 22nd; RP bets depart

Good news and bad news for RP badminton.

Kennevic and Kennie Asuncion have improved from No. 24 to No. 22 in the International Badminton Federation mixed doubles rankings, thanks to their strong showing in the recent IBF World Championships in Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, California where they reached the Last 16 phase.

The bad news is there are five more from the Southeast Asian region that are better-ranked than the brother-sister tandem, thus making it difficult for the Filipinos to vie for medal honors in the 23rd SEA Games here this November.

The Asuncions are hoping to improve, if not match, their bronze medal finish — the country’s first SEAG medal in the sport — in the 2003 Hanoi Games.

But with Indonesia’s Nova Widianto and Lilyana Natsir, now the top-ranked mixed doubles team after topping the 2005 World Championship, in the fold, along with Thailand’s No. 6 pair of Suket Prapakamo and Saralee Thungthongkam, Malaysia’s No. 10 tandem of Koo Kien Keat and Wong Pei Tty, Singapore’s No. 12 Yujia Li and Hendry Kurniawan Saputra, and another Indon pair of Anggun Negrono and Yunita Tetty at 17th, things aren’t looking good for the Filipino pair in the biennial meet slated Nov. 27-Dec. 5 at the Philsports Arena.

But the crack list doesn’t worry the Asuncions a bit as they spearhead a 16-man team leaving today to compete in the 2005 Chinese Taipei Satellite Badminton Championships set Aug. 31-Sept. 4 at the Yulin Indoor Stadium.

Mentored by Martin Araneta, the squad was given a sendoff party by Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. and Smart big boss Manny Pangilinan yesterday at the Manila Polo Club in Makati City.

"The only way for the national team to improve is to compete internationally, this trip is just one of them," said Pangilinan, whose support to badminton started when he bankrolled the MVP Cup which pitted the best in Asia and Europe last month.

Pangilinan also announced that PLDT and Smart have provided the RP delegation a pocket money of P200,000.

That is on top of what Pangilinan would be releasing to cover the airfare expenses of the big 21-man squad leaving on Oct. 16 for Guangzhou, China for a one-month training serving as part of the team’s SEA Games buildup.

"I’ve heard kailangan ng team ng pamasahe papuntang China, magkano ba?" asked Pangilinan. "Sige, sagot ko na ‘yan."

Joining the Asuncions, the most dominant players in the JVC Championships, regarded as the unofficial national team championships, in the Taiwan joust are Lloyd Escoses, Owen Lopez, Ian Piencenaves, Arolas Amahit Jr., Paula Obanana, Mark Alvin Natividad, Chris Flores, Marlon Villarin, Rodel Bartolome, Irene Chiu, Vanessa Tanco, Amando Carpo and the youngest 15-year-old Karyn Velez.