Shuttlers eye ranking points in Bingo Bonanza

MANILA, Philippines – Filipino shuttlers competing in the Bingo Bonanza Philippine Open Grand Prix Badminton Championship will not only play against some of the world’s best players but will also get the chance to go for world ranking points when the event is held July 1-5 at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.

Being a Graded four-star or Gold event, the $120,000 tournament will give local players a chance to gain ranking points needed to make it to the 2012 London Olympics.

The veteran brother-sister pair of Kennevic and Kennie Asuncion will again lead the local contingent although a slew of rising stars will be out to showcase their talent and skills against a tough international field.

Ninety-two local bets are in the fold, led by the Asuncions in the mixed doubles with Kennevic also teaming up with Lloyd Escoses in men’s doubles and Kennie with Lili Wang in the ladies side of the event sponsored by Bingo Bonanza and backed by Victor (PCOME Industrial Sales, Inc), PLDT Business Solutions, The Philippine STAR, Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza and Solar Sports.

Mark Natividad, Antonino Gadi, Wilmer Frias, Kelvin Ang, Jaime Junio and brothers Patrick and Peter Magnaye head the 23-player RP list in the men’s singles while Irene Chiu, Gelita Castillo, Malvinne Alcala, Reyne Calimlim and Fatima Cruz will be the country’s bets in ladies singles.

They will be up against the top players from China, England, Vietnam, Germany, Canada, Wales and Malaysia while other countries expected to compete in the BWF (Badminton World Federation) -sanctioned event are Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, India, Chinese-Taipei, Japan, Russia and Macau.

The Chinese are tipped to dominate the event, put up by Bingo Bonanza for the third time in the last four years, with a full roster of 29 players raring to strut their wares.

For updates on Bingo Bonanza RP Open, log on to wwww.philopenbadminton.com.

Former world junior champion Chen Long of China heads the field in the men’s singles that also includes world No. 10 Yan Kit Yan of Hong Kong, Vietnam’s world No. 11 Tien Minh Nguyen and Malaysia’s Tsuen Seng Lee while teammate Jiang Yanjiao will be the player to watch in the ladies singles along with Singapore’s Aiying Xing, Malaysia’s Lydia Cheah and Charmaine Reid of Canada.