PBAD to hold a preseason tournament in co-presentation with SMART, supported by the MVP Sports Foundation, on September 10 & 11 at Centro Atletico for the upcoming UAAP and NCAA seasons.
The Philippine Badminton Association (PBAD), in partnership with SMART, will hold the first Philippine Intercollegiate Badminton Championships to serve as a preseason tournament for the upcoming University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) seasons later this year.
PBAD will be supported by the MVP Sports Foundation in holding the preseason tourney set on September 10 and 11 to be held at Centro Atletico in Cubao, Quezon City.
“The main objective of this tournament is to give another avenue for our athletes at our collegiate level,” Project Director Imee Moreno said in the press conference held at Gloria Maris in San Juan on Wednesday.
“As we all know here in the Philippines there are very few avenues… that can serve as their training ground,” added Moreno.
Among the attendees in the press conference for the announcement were PBAD Secretary-General Christopher Quimpo; PBAD Vice President and PLDT/SMART Head of Sports Jude Turcuato; and SMART Communications FVP for Go-To-Market Melvin Nubla.
SMART, after the Philippines’ hosting of the 2022 Badminton Asia Championships last April, aims to strengthen the sport’s promotion by continuing its partnership with PBAD even in the collegiate levels.
“Smart is here to support the initiatives of PBAD especially since we started already with Badminton Asia a few months ago,” Nubla said.
“With the opening of the classes also happening, we decided to really work with PBAD to have a preseason badminton tournament.”
The league looks to invite eight competing universities and colleges, citing that most teams from the UAAP have already verbally committed despite naming any of the participating schools.
The tournament will see five divisions—men’s singles and doubles, women’s singles and doubles and mixed doubles, in which the champions of each division will win a cash prize of P50,000, second placers will go home with 20,000 while two third placers will be awarded P10,000 each and medals.
Tags: #badminton, #UAAP, #NCAA