PBA to push for Alcala's London bid

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Badminton Association has vowed to give its all-out support to Malvinne Alcala in a bid to qualify her for the 2012 London Olympics and at the same time promote the sport among the Filipino people.

“I believe she’s our ticket to the Olympic Games,” said vice president and PBA president Jejomar Binay of the 16-year-old Alcala, the reigning Singapore and Australian Juniors champion.

“She’s our most promising athlete in badminton, let us give her the assistance she needs to be able to reach that goal,” said Binay, himself a badminton enthusiast.

Alcala, who also copped the women’s singles crown in the second leg of the PBaRS (Philippine Badminton Ranking System) circuit in Bacolod recently, is set to compete, together with Joper Escueta, in the Badminton Asia U-19 Juniors Championships slated July 2-9 in India.

The two Filipino talents’ international campaigns are actually subsidized by the Badminton Asia Confederation under its Asian Development Team.

Meanwhile, Binay, along with PBA chairman Manny V. Pangilinan and sec-gen Rep. Albee Benitez will go around the country to visit PBA member-clubs and provide support to their projects, including staging of tournaments.

“Visiting them personally will give us insights on their plans and concerns.

These, in turn, will help us determine the appropriate assistance that we could extend to them,” said Binay.

To provide the PBA a wider pool of talents, Binay said they will also increase the number of national team pool from current 20 players to 30. They will be grouped into Team A as the national team, Team B as the national developmental pool and the junior team.

Team B will serve as the back-up pool of talents to replace the national team when they retire for the continuity of the PBA’s training program.

The PBA also approved to expedite and facilitate the daily operation of the association and cater to the needs of its member clubs, its national team, its supporters and ensure the implementation of its plans and programs.