Forced by Olympic sked to cancel tourney, RP Badminton Open returns in 09

MANILA, Philippines – The Bingo Bonanza Philippine Open Badminton Championships returns next year after a one-year absence with the country’s top and upcoming players out to battle the world’s finest stars. Organizers of the annual netfest, led by Philippine Badminton Association (PBA) president Amelita Ramos, made the announcement during Tuesday’s Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Forum at Shakey’s UN Avenue. “We’re happy to announce that we’re proceeding with the Bingo Bonanza Philippine Open Badminton on June 2 to 9 next year," said Ramos. Ramos graced the PSA Forum along with PBA vice-president (Ret.) Gen. Edgar Aglipay, Bingo Bonanza president Albee Benitez and International Management Group (IMG) representative Princess Galura. "Being an Olympic year, we thought of just postponing 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," Benitez said. "We didn’t want the tournament to be half-baked." Ramos added the decision to postpone the event for next year was meant to preserve the world-class quality of the Philippine Open, a feature that would have been missing if the sponsoring Bingo Bonanza decided to stage the event this year. A total of 30 countries represented by some of the world’s best players competed in the 2007 edition with Malaysian Lee Chong Wei bagging the men’s singles crown with a 21-9, 21-15 sweep of China’s Chen Hong in the final of the Philippine Open. The PBA said the Philippine Open is still a five-star ranked tournament, which offers a total of prize money worth $120,000. Kennie and Kennevic Asuncion bannered the Philippine campaign in 2007. In 2009, the Asuncion siblings are expected to share the limelight with upcoming Filipino bets led by Alvin Alcantara and Andre Babad. – GMANews.TV