Team Philippines will be facing rough sailing when the Nationals battle the best in Asia in the 2022 SMART Badminton Asia Championships on Tuesday (April 26) at the Muntinlupa Sports Complex.
The qualifying rounds for this Badminton World Federation World Tour Super 1000 tournament will begin at 9 a.m.
Local bet Jewel Albo will have to go through China’s Lei Lan Xi and Hong Kong’s Chan Yin Chak in Pool D to advance to the men’s singles tournament proper while Ros Pedrosa is with Brunei’s Adnan Ebrahim and Kazakhstan’s Dmitriy Panarin.
The third men’s singles qualifying pool will be composed of China’s Weng Hong Yang, Myanmar’s Phone Pyae Naing, and Maldives’ Hussein Zayan Shaheed.
For the women’s side, Mika De Guzman takes on Malaysia’s Myisha Mohd Khairui and Indonesia’s Komang Ayu Cahya Dewi in Group D. Jaja Andres, meanwhile, faces Indonesia’s Stephanie Widjaya and Maldives’ Fathirmath Nabaaha Abdul Razzaq in Group B.
Group A will be composed of Hong Kong’s Yeung Sum Yee, Jordan’s Domou Amro, and Malaysia’s Tan Zhing Yi while Group C has Malaysia’s Siti Nurshuhani, South Korea’s Seo Jin Lee, and Hong Kong’s Saloni Samirbhai Mehta.
Only one player from each pool will advance to the tournament proper.
“This is a huge opportunity for us to compete against some of the world’s best players heading into the Southeast Asian Games,” said De Guzman. “Definitely we will do our best to win and learn from our opponents.”
“We are excited to be part of this tournament since we have only competed in two local tournaments prior to this,” added Albo.
A simple opening ceremony will also be held at 2:00PM followed by the round of 32 of the men’s and mixed doubles events.
Defending mixed doubles champion Wang Yi Lyu and Huang Dong Ping of China will open their title defense against Thailand’s Ruttanapak Oupthong and Chasinee Korepap at 6:20 p.m.
The local pairs of Solomon Padiz and Lea Inlayo; and Alvin Morada and Thea Pomar face Malaysia’s Chen Tang Jie and Peck Yen Wei (3:00PM); and Hong Kong’s Chang Tak Ching and Ng Wing Yung (5:00p.m.), respectively.
