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THE Bingo Bonanza Philippine Open Badminton Championships will be
back in June 2009 with a bigger, more explosive battle for supremacy
among some of the world’s finest players and the country’s top
and upcoming stars.
Philippine Badminton Association (PBA) President
Amelita “Ming” Ramos said the move to stage the meet for next
year meant preserving the world-class quality of plays the RP Open
has been known for, a feature that would be lacking if the
sponsoring Bingo Bonanza decided to push through with its hosting
this season.
Organizers behind the tournament decided to
cancel this year’s edition since its June-July playdate would have
been held after the final Olympic qualifier, a development that
could force the top international players to skip the meet as they
prepare for the Beijing Games.
“But we’re happy to announce that we’re
proceeding with the Bingo Bonanza Philippine Open Badminton on June
2 to 9 of next year,” said the former First Lady in the PSA Forum
at the Shakey’s U.N. Avenue branch Tuesday.
PBA Vice President (Ret.) Gen. Edgar Aglipay and
Bingo Bonanza President Albee Benitez and Princess Galura of the
International Management Group (IMG) accompanied the former First
Lady in the weekly session sponsored by Shakey’s, Accel, Brickroad
gym and Aspen spa and MedCentral Medical Clinic and Diagnostic
Center.
“Being an Olympic year, we thought to just
postpone the Philippine Open for next year since we’re not sure
that there would be enough world class players who will see action
in the meet. Ayaw naman naming half-baked ang magiging labas nito,”
said Benitez.
But by next year, PBA officials expect the
tournament to dish out the same quality of plays badminton fans in
the country witnessed before during the past staging of the RP Open.
Last year, a total of 30 countries represented
by some of the world’s best players came here to compete, with
Malaysian Lee Chong Wei bagging the men’s singles crown with a
21-9, 21-15 sweep of Chinese Chen Hong in the final.
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