Badminton row not over; player returns shot

Jaime Junio, one of three players who were recently dropped from the Philippine badminton team, yesterday denied charges that he tried to sabotage the performance of his teammates during the Hong Kong Open tournament last November.

According to RP team head coach Butch Oreta, Junio was caught by the hotel surveillance camera pressing on the door buzzer of his teammates then running back to his own room from 2 to 4 in the morning, just a few hours before they were to see action.

"I have gathered proof and I’ll challenge coach Oreta," said the 23-year-old Junio, adding that some of his teammates during that trip are now willing to testify that there was no such incident leading to his expulsion from the RP team of which he was a member since 1997.

"I’m an athlete. How can I do that to my teammates? We can file charges against coach Oreta for all these lies he’s been telling Madame President Ming Ramos," said Junio, referring to the former First Lady who is also president of the Philippine Badminton Association (PBA).

"If he’s questioning my report, then he should direct it to the PBA board which is the proper channel and not to the media. And why is he denying it only now?" said Oreta, who added that Junio had already faced the board a month after the Hong Kong incident.

"But he didn’t make a denial before Mrs. Ramos and Gen. (Edgardo) Aglipay (PBA vice president). In fact, he had his head bowed for most of the time that the discussions were going on," said Oreta.

Oreta and his assistant Melvin Llanes said it was the board that decided to sack Junio along with Owen Lopez and Wilson Frias based on their recent performance, attendance and punctuality, and negative attitude.

Ian Piencanaves, the reigning back-to-back champion in the JVC Open, has been suspended for three months starting last Feb. 15 for almost the same reasons.

"I don’t care if you’re number one or number two. If you don’t have the discipline, we don’t have room for you in the national team," Mrs. Ramos said in defending the PBA move against erring champion.

Oreta showed a couple of scribes the attendance records of the RP team for last year with Junio listed as absent in 88 of 164 practice days from January to September. April records were unavailable.

"And he has the guts to question and contest his expulsion from the team last December," said Oreta.

Oreta said the PBA, as much as possible, has tried to keep its internal affairs from the media and only came out with a statement after the concerned players went to the press.