MANILA -- The Philippine Badminton Association (PBAD) is shifting its focus to international tournaments for local players, with the ultimate goal of qualifying for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
This comes after the successful staging of the 2024 Philippine Badminton Open, which was ruled by men’s and women’s singles champions Jelo Albo and Mika De Guzman, respectively.
More than 400 shuttlers registered for the five events, with Ysabel Amora of National University (De Guzman’s runner-up), Kimberly Lao and Patricia De Dios of University of the Philippines (women’s doubles runners-up), and Kervin Llanes and RA Pedron (men’s doubles third-placers) also standing out.
"The Philippine Badminton Association is super happy with the turnout of the PBO this year. We were so excited to see all of the players in action. We had over 400 players battling it out, and today in the finals, we saw the best of the best crowned as champions," said Carla Lizardo-Sulit, Secretary General of the federation.
"It is really important for us to tap into as many clubs across the country as possible, so we were really happy with the representation we saw. We had players from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. Hopefully, for future projects of PBAD, we will continue to grow the network. We know that to develop badminton as one of the most popular sports in the country, we need the help of everyone," she added.
The association now hopes for these players to improve their ranking points internationally, while also further improving the sport's grassroots program.
"For PBad, there are two main focuses. One is to prepare for the next Olympics in LA by securing resources to join more international tournaments to earn points and qualify," said Jude Turcuato, the First Vice President and Head of Sports at PLDT.
"The other focus is our grassroots program, concentrating on our juniors’ program and schools to discover emerging talents," he added.
Lizardo-Sulit shared the same sentiments and emphasized the continuous improvement of the national team program with the goal of achieving success in four years.
"We are trying to build a strong support system for our senior team to establish a high-performance program. This includes sending them to as many tournaments as possible. Competing almost every month in another country is one of the challenges of badminton, so we hope to strategize well and send them to the right tournaments to see results internationally," she shared.
"We’ve been competing at Level 2 and Level 3 internationally and are already seeing results. We’re thrilled about that with our seniors and juniors. We are past the stage of just qualifying; we are now aiming for the podium. Our next goal is to graduate from Level 3, achieve results at Level 2, and eventually reach Level 1, which includes the Olympics," Lizardo-Sulit concluded.
source: https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/2024/6/19/ph-badminton-association-sets-sights-on-intl-tournaments-2329