Ten of the Philippines’ top badminton players bannered by the stalwarts Kennevic and Kennie Asuncion are headed to the 2009 world mixed team championships known as the Sudirman Cup competition in Guangzhou, China. The event runs from May 10 to 17 and features national teams competing against each other in team contests that consist of a match each in men’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s singles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles.
Joining Kennevic and Kennie Asuncion on the Philippine team are Andrei Babad, Ronel Estanislao, Antonio B. Gadi, Mark Natividad, Paul J. Vivas, Malvinne Alcala, Gelita Castilo and Karyn Velez.
There are 34 nations participating in this year’s tournament and they have been split into 4 groups. The top 8 badminton nations, led by top seed Denmark, are in Group 1 and these nations will be vying to take home the Sudirman Cup. The other countries in Group 1 are Indonesia, Malaysia, China, South Korea, England, Hong Kong, and Japan.
The lesser badminton nations are in groups 2 to 4. These nations will be playing for the right to play in the next higher group at the next Sudirman Cup in 2011.
The Philippines is in Group 4 which itself is subdivided into 2 sub-groups – 4A and 4B; in the 4A sub-group with the Philippines are Switzerland, South Africa, Luxembourg, and Turkey. Switzerland is the top seed in this sub-group; the Philippines is ranked at the bottom of the sub-group as newcomers to the tournament. The teams in each sub-group will play each other in a round-robin format.
In sub-group 4B are Lithuania, Sri Lanka, Portugal, Iceland and Mongolia.
The first encounter for the Philippine team will be against South Africa on Sunday May 10. They then will play group 4 top-seed Switzerland on Monday, May 11, then Luxembourg on Tuesday, May 12 followed by Turkey on Thursday, May 14. On Friday, May 15, they will face the team from sub-group 4B which finished with the same rank as the Philippine team, after the sub-group round-robin competition.
The Philippine team consists mainly of rookies in international competition and is in the tournament principally to gain experience.
In the meantime, a smaller two-man contingent of Ian Mendez and playing coach Arolas Amahit Jr. will be at the 2009 Arafura Games in Darwin, Australia, trying to bag badminton medals in men’s singles and men’s doubles for the Philippines. The Arafura Games is an international multi-sports competition like the SEA Games and is held every two years. This year’s Games begin on May 9 and end on May 17. |
