30 NATIONS, 438 PLAYERS...RP Open lures record field

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A banner field of 428 players from 30 countries,
including 26 of the world’s top-ranked shuttlers in
five divisions, will slug it out for top honors in the
2007 Bingo Bonanza Philippine Open Badminton
Championships, which gets going on July 18 at the
Philsports Arena in Pasig City, Metro Manila.

Eight of the top 15 players in the world spearhead the
107-cast in men’s singles, while five of the world’s
top 15 lead the 60-player field in women’s singles.
The men’s doubles list will have four of the world’s
top 15 while six of the world’s top 15 are in the
women’s doubles roster.

The mixed doubles, where the brother-sister tandem of
Kennie and Kennevic Asuncion finished runner-up in
last year’s inaugurals, drew three of the world’s top
15 pairs, making the $120,000 championship, a Grand
Prix Gold tournament sponsored by Bingo Bonanza Corp.,
truly an event to watch.

World No. 3 Chen Hong of China and No. 4 and former
world No. 1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia will be the
marked men in men’s singles, while Germany’s Xu
Huaiwen and France’s Pi Hongyan, the world’s Nos. 5
and 6, respectively, will be the players to watch in
ladies singles.

The world No. 5 pair of Tony Gunawan of the US and
Indon Candra Wijaya and No. 12 Susanto Njoto and
Hadikusumo Wiratama of Hong Kong head the men’s
doubles field, while Taiwan’s world No. 5 tandem of
Wen Hsing Cheng and Yu Chin Chien banner the women’s
doubles cast.

World No. 2 Nova Widianto and Lilyana Natsir and No. 8
Flandy Limpele and Vita Marissa, both of Indonesia set
out as the favorite in the mixed doubles of the event
sanctioned by the International Badminton Federation
and organized by IMG (International Management Group).

This year’s field doubled last year’s roster but the
current total number of players in the fold has
tripled the cast in last year’s inaugurals,
underscoring the tremendous interest generated by the
event not only in the region but also throughout the
world following the participation of England, Czech
Republic, Germany, Finland, Italy, Ireland, Russia,
Slovenia, Switzerland, Wales, Austria, France,
Portugal, Canada, and the United States.
Other countries participating are China, Hong Kong,
India, Iran, Indonesia, Vietnam, Chinese-Taipei,
Japan, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Thailand,
Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines.

The field also includes 54 Filipinos, headed by the
Asuncions, Lloyd Escoses, Kelvin Ang, Melvin Llanes,
Karyn Velez and Irene Chiu in the singles, and the
tandems of Ian Piencenaves and Jaime Junio Jr. and
Raquel and Rachel Guerrero.

The RP Open, backed by Victor, exclusively distributed
by Pcome Industrial Sales, Inc., Snickers, The
Philippine Star, Solar Sports (official broadcaster),
Holiday Inn Galleria Manila and The Richmonde
(official hotels), will also stake world ranking
points and serves as an Olympic Qualifying tournament
where players shoot for important ranking points to
qualify for next year’s Olympiad in Beijing.

On photo: Chen Hong is the highest rated player at No. 3