SIX days of badminton extravaganza are expected to draw thousands of participants this month as the 11th Prima Pasta Badminton Championships happens on Feb. 16, 17, 18, 23, 24 and 25 at the Powersmash Badminton Court in Chino Roces Avenue, Makati City.
On its 11th year of providing annual quality badminton competitions, the tournament presented by Smart is inviting all level of players to join the competition sanctioned by the Philippine Badminton Association (PBA) and affiliated with the Philippine National Ranking System (PNRS).
“Last year was a decade of great badminton competition, where we witnessed the country’s best badminton players compete. And for this year, we are expecting the defending champions to defend their crown in their respective events,” says Prima Pasta organizing chairman Alex Lim.
Women’s singles open defending champion Sarah Joy Barredo is expected to return to defend her title.
“We are hoping this will be another banner year,” added Lim.
The tournament, sponsored by Babolat and Smart Communications through MVP Sports Foundation, will include the following events: Men’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles from Open class, to Levels A to G, while Open Class and Levels B to F will be available in the Women’s Doubles.
The Open singles will be available only in the men’s and women’s category.
The event is also supported by Boysen Paints, Morning Star Milling Corp., Mabz Builders, ILO Construction, Monocrete Construction, Pioneer Insurance, Promax International, Regent Foods Corp., RFM Corp. and Del Monte Phils.
There will also boys’ and girls’ singles events for Under 19, 17, 15, 13 and 11 categories, while boys’ and girls’ doubles will be available for Under 19, 17 and Under 15.
A non-gender doubles event, the Combined Age 100, will also be featured in the tournament. Minimum age will be 30 years for either player.
Trophies, medals and gift certificates await the winners and runner-ups for all the events.
Top badminton stars Peter Gabriel Magnaye, Alvin Morada, Joper Escueta, Anton Cayanan, Paul Vivas, and Ronel Estanislao, among others, are the expected entries in the six-day national competition.
