A blissful weekend at the RP Open Badminton
By: Patrick Claviolo

The first Philippine Open Badminton was a 4-star event sanctioned by the International Badminton Federation (IBF).  I was a bit disappointed because of the heavy withdrawals of most of the high-ranked players, most notably from China and Denmark.  But I do have a lot to be thankful for because this event wasn’t supposed to be held at all! 

In case you didn’t know, the RP Open Badminton should have originally taken place last March were it not for the political turmoil brought about by Proclamation #1017 issued by PGMA.  International Management Group (IMG), the event organizer, pulled a lot of strings for the event to be moved to a later date.  It was understandable that many high-ranked players withdrew from the RP Open due to a bigger event to be held the week after.  This big event is the 6-star Indonesian Open.  Professional badminton players plan their schedules at the start of every calendar year.

Even if the RP Open cannot be compared to the Indonesian Open, it had its share of superstars who grabbed the opportunity to come over here to compete and display their wares.  Some of these superstars are Muhd Hafiz Hashim of Malaysia (world ranked #11 in men’s singles), Xu Huaiwen of Germany (world ranked #4 in women’s singles), Sathinee CHANKRACHANGWONG and Saralee THOUNGTHONGKAM of Thailand (world ranked #11 in women’s doubles), and Sudket Prapakamol and Saralee THOUNGTHONGKAM of Thailand (world ranked #12 in mixed doubles).

All in all, a total of 157 players participated in the first RP Open.  We sent 26 local athletes to compete in the event.  Malaysia also sent the same number.  The next was Indonesia who had 24 athletes.  A total of 17 nations were represented in the tournament sponsored by PLDT, JVC and Smart.      

I’d like to compare both the MVP Cup and the RP Badminton Open.  The MVP Cup was an exhibition event where top ranked players were invited to grace the affair.  It has the format of Team Asia versus Team Europe.  The RP Open has a more competitive atmosphere where players vie for ranking points and the top awards that goes with it.  Both events have their merits.  Personally, I’d prefer watching the latter because of the emotions involved.  Participants will really try their best to capture the title.  I witnessed a lot of diving and splitting actions while players attempt to retrieve the shuttlecock.  And with the absence of the top players, this will be the opportunity for the lower-ranked players to gain precious points. 

The event was held in ULTRA.  The place wasn’t as jam packed as expected.  Probably around 40% of the venue was filled.  Relatively, there was a good size crowd.  Most of them cheered for the Filipino players.  It was a good thing that the air conditioning was turned on unlike during the MVP Cup where it was turned off because the players complained of wind drafts which affects the performance of the shuttlecocks.

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5 June 2006