Asuncions make it to World badminton championship

Badminton players Kennevic Asuncion and Kennie Asuncion made Philippine badminton history as they became the first-ever Filipino pair to qualify for the World Badminton Championships.

The World Championships will be held in Birmingham, UK in May under the auspices of the International Badminton Federation (IBF).

The event is generally recognized as the most prestigious annual global tournament in the sport. To ensure top-quality play, the IBF strictly controls the field to only the world’s top 64 players in each event. This year, players from only 51 countries have qualified to join.

"We are proud that Filipino athletes have finally qualified for the world badminton championships," says the president of the Philippine Badminton Association (PBA), former First Lady Mrs. Amelita "Ming" Ramos. "Kennevic and Kennie have worked very hard for this honor, while we in the PBA have always given them our unstinting support. We wish them the best in their upcoming tournament."

On top of being the current national champions in the men’s and ladies’ singles event, the brother-and-sister Asuncions are also the current local mixed doubles champions. They are currently ranked No. 83 in the world’s mixed double pair, breaking into the prestigious World Top 100 with a string of impressive performances in international badminton competitions over the last six months.

The Asuncion siblings started their winning ways by taking the mixed doubles bronze medal in the 2002 Canadian Open held last September 2002 in Vancouver, the highest Philippine performance ever achieved in a Canadian tournament. This was followed by participation in the US Open, held also in September at Orange Country in California.

Kennevic and Kennie also carried the Philippine colors in the 2002 JVC Asian badminton Championships, held last November 2002, in Bangkok, Thailand. The pair reached the final sixteen, again the highest position ever reached by a Filipino entry in the history of the Asian championships. This year, the Filipinos again gained international prominence by reaching the final sixteen in the Thai Open Championships, held this January in Bangkok.