Castilo eyes breakthru in PBaRS Open

MANILA, Philippines - Gelita Castilo hopes to finally nail down the elusive win in women’s Open singles division of the MVP Sports Foundation-Bingo Bonanza Philippine Badminton Ranking System (PBaRS) tournament which holds its third leg July 30-Aug. 3 at the Wheels and More badminton courts in Davao City.

Frustrated in the first two legs of the four-stage nationwide circuit, Castilo is raring to launch her title drive in the centerpiece division of the five-day event, put up by Vice President and Philippine Badminton Association president Jejomar Binay, Rep. Albee Benitez and businessman-sportsman Manny V. Pangilinan to raise the Filipinos’ level of play and come up with a truly national ranking system.

Despite her setbacks to Bianca Carlos and Malvinne Alcala, Castilo gained the top seeding with 10,200 points based on the new PBaRS ranking points system with Carlos in second with 9,252 and Danica Bolos in third with 8,244 points.

Alcala, the country’s leading player who skipped the first leg last March, is in fifth with 6,000 points behind Grace Lim’s 6,504 but the former will not be around in the upcoming event to resume her training in Malaysia.

“Actually, I’m not expecting to win in the Open. But let’s wait and see what will happen,” said Castilo, whose buildup includes a thrice-a-week training after classes.

She, however, stressed the need to improve her patience especially in long rallies even as she looks forward to extending her domination of the Open doubles with partner Dia Nicole Magno.

“I really want to defend my titles in the Open and 19-under doubles (with Dia),” said the two-time winner of the Yonex Open, referring to their back-to-back victories in the Open doubles and their second leg romp in the 19-under class.

The event is backed by official equipment sponsor Victor, exclusively distributed by PCOME Industrial Sales, Inc. in the country, PLDT-Smart Foundation, Victor PCOME Industrial Sales, Gatorade and Powersmash with The Philippine STAR, TV5, Badminton Extreme Philippines Magazine, Jam 88.3, Wave 89.1, Magic 89.9, 99.5 RT and 103.5 WOW! as media partners.