Banner field seen in MVPSF-PBaRS tilt

MANILA, Philippines - The MVP Sports Foundation-Philippine Badminton Ranking System (PBaRS) braces for another huge turnout with hundreds of players already listed to play in the seventh leg of the event unfolding May 3 at the Excel Badminton Center in San Fernando, Pampanga.

Toby Gadi and Bianca Carlos, who swept the premier Open singles titles in last year’s staging of the country’s only ranking badminton tournament, are tipped to lead the title chase again in the five-day tournament sponsored by MVP Sports Foundation.

Registration is ongoing with deadline set Friday. The posting of participants will be on April 23 with the draw set April 26 at the PBaRS office.

The event is the country’s only ranking badminton tournament, sanctioned by the Philippine Badminton Association headed by Vice President Jejomar Binay with sportsman Manny V. Pangilinan as chairman and Rep. Albee Benitez as sec-gen.

For details, contact the PBaRS office at 20 E. Maclang cor. P. Guevarra Sts., San Juan City at 7252568 and 7828202, according to PBaRS tournament director Nelson Asuncion. On-line registration can also be made on pbars.com.

Backing the event are Gatorade, Vineza, Sincere Construction, Victor Pcome Industrial Sales and Krav Maga Philippines with TV 5, The Philippine Star and Badminton Extreme Philippines Magazine as media partners.

Meanwhile, the second batch of the Asuncion Badminton Center will be held April 24-May 20 for MWF sessions and from April 25-May 21 for TTHS classes with the weeklong training slated April 24-May 21.

Also on tap is a weeklong training from Monday to Saturday with all participants to play in the first summer trainees tournament on April 28.

The third batch will start May 22-May 31 for MWF and May 23-June 1 for TTHS (five sessions each). The weeklong training is set May 22-June 1. The second summer trainees tournament, meanwhile, will be played June 2.