THE week-long 2024 Philippine Badminton Open concluded a week ago at the Gameville Ball Park in Mandaluyong City, following six intense days at the First Pacific Leadership Academy in Antipolo City.
The national team, Smash Pilipinas, dominated the podium as expected, led by men’s and women’s singles champions Jelo Albo and Mika De Guzman, respectively.
However, several other UAAP standouts, such as 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) from UP, also made notable contributions.
Nonetheless, the biggest story of this year’s PBO came at the very start, as more than 400 shuttlers registered for the five events on offer.
“The Philippine Badminton Association is super happy with the turnout of the PBO this year. We were so excited to see all 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,” emphasized the former Ateneo de Manila University standout.
Jude Turcuato, the First Vice President and Head of Sports at PLDT, was also pleased with the outcome of this year’s PBO.
He said, “For me, as part of PBad, the MVP Sports Foundation, and Smart, I’m happy that we were able to organize this PBO. It took a lot of effort from the federation and the badminton community. I’m happy that the participants signed up from across the country.”
