Swiss Int’l titlists head B Bonanza b’minton list

MANILA, Philippines - Fresh from their breakthrough victory in the Swiss International Badminton Championship, top men’s pair Peter Magnaye and Paul Vivas headline a star-studded cast of competitors in the P1.5 million Bingo Bonanza National Open slated Dec. 11-14 at Rizal Memorial Badminton Center.

Magnaye and Vivas team up anew in the men’s doubles against a field led by Joper Escueta and Ronel Estanislao, who also reached the quarterfinals of the tough Swiss tourney in what has become a defining performance from the Phl badminton team.

“Todo-bigay kami dito (We’re going all out in the Bingo Bonanza National Open),” said Magnaye when they graced yesterday’s PSA Forum along with Philippine Badminton Association secretary general and Negros Occidental Rep. Albee Benitez, Bingo Bonanza vice president Al Alonte, Indonesian coach Paulus Firman and tournament director Nelson Asuncion.

Registration for the tournament, sponsored by Bingo Bonanza Corp., starts Nov. 8-28 at 5 p.m., according to the organizing EventKing Corp. Entry fee is pegged at P800. The posting of players is on Dec. 1 while the draw will be held Dec. 5. The schedule will be posted on Dec. 7 while the team managers, coaches and players meeting will be on Dec. 9.

For details and online listup, visit www.bingob.com/nationalopentournament or email to EKC at [email protected].

The country’s cream of the crop in both the seniors and juniors ranks, led by Toby Gadi, are expected to strut their stuff in the competition, put up by the country’s top gaming and amusement center which serves as the PBA’s fifth ranking tournament this year.

Aside from ranking points, top prizes await the winners: P120,000 in the men’s, women’s and mixed doubles categories, and P100,000 in men’s and women’s singles.

The tournament comes on the heels of a series of breakthrough performances by the Phl team overseas like the Swiss Open, Dutch Open and French Super Series.

“We have shown that we can now compete with the best in the world,” said Benitez, also the founder of Bingo Bonanza who added the program the PBA had initiated two years ago for the shuttlers is now paying off.

Magnaye and Vivas fought back from the brink and upstaged top seed Baptiste Careme and Ronan Labar of France, 6-11, 11-9, 10-11, 11-6, 11-10 for the Swiss diadem.

“Syempre masaya kasi first time namin, hindi expected na manalo. Kasi kapag Pilipinas before iniisip ng kalaban na balewala, kami naman, laban lang (We’re happy to win on our first time. We just wanted to fight and prove our rivals wrong in thinking we Filipinos are pushovers),” said Magnaye.                 – Olmin Leyba

Bingo Bonanza has been in the forefront of badminton since early 2000s, reviving the once dormant sport and producing top-notch players. The last time Bingo Bonanza staged the Philippine Open was in 2009 that lured some of the world’s top players, including those from powerhouse China, England, Canada, Germany, Wales, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, thus putting the country in the league of international badminton.