A TOTAL OF 192 PLAYERS PLUNGE into action in various divisions as the Partners Cup Invitational Badminton tournament gets under way today at the Yonex Badminton courts at the Liberty Center in Mandaluyong City.

Defending champion Robinsons-Lipa is the team to beat in the P250,000 tournament with Novaliches and Metro East looming as its biggest challengers.

Action in the different classes unfolds as the FDG Cup, the tournament’s highlight event, ends its two-day tournament at the Asuncion Badminton Center in San Juan City today.

The country’s top shuttlers, led by the Asuncion siblings Kennevic and Kennie, Brandon Chan, Albee Benitez, Ricky Morales, Toby Gadi and event organizer Frederick Go, dispute championships in the masters and elite categories with a sprinkling of crack foreign players.

Korean Kim Yong-hyun, the other half of the former world No. 2 in the mixed doubles, and countrymen Lim Jae-eun and Bark Su-hui, as well as Indonesians Trikus Haryanto, the former Olympic silver medalist, Bambang Supriyanto, Nining Kustianing Sih, Rudy Widjaya, Kwee Tiek Ming and Yong Yudianto stand at the forefront of the foreign challenge.

The Partners Cup features players from the management and staff of the Robinsons Land Corp. (RLC) and its business partners, architects, construction designers, management consultants, contractors and suppliers.