MANILA, Philippines - The MVP Sports Foundation-Philippine Badminton Ranking System (PBaRS) unwraps today with around 550 entries, headed by national team mainstays and the leading players from major NCR and provincial clubs, slugging it out for top honors and ranking points at the Excel Badminton Center in San Fernando, Pampanga.
Hostilities in the boys’ and girls’ Under-19 and the Open divisions usher in the day-long competitions pitting Carl Villanueva against Andrew Pineda, Carl Caraan against John Quibranza, Dandy Lojares versus Diego Nealega, and Kristian Barrios against Daniel de Castro in the U-19 singles at 9 a.m.
U-19 top seed Lorenzo Yason takes on Thomas de Guzman at 3:30 p.m. while Mark Alcala, who dominated the U-15 division in the first six legs of the annual P1 million event sponsored by MVP Sports Foundation, sets out as the No. 3 seed against Michael Ligan at 4 p.m.
The national team members also strut their wares at 6 tonight with top seed defending champion Toby Gadi colliding with JC Clarito, No. 2 Paul Vivas squaring off with Diego Libiran and third seed Peter Magnaye battling EJ Viloria.
The five-day event is sanctioned by the Philippine Badminton Association headed by Vice President Jejomar Binay with sportsman Manny V. Pangilinan as chairman.