INQUIRER Sports

THERE ARE TWO ways to look at the Bingo Bonanza Philippine Open Badminton Championships played last week.

One is from the view of the recreational player who picked up the game four or five years ago when the badminton bug bit hard.

These were those in search of a game less strenuous than basketball or less time-consuming than golf. They formed badminton groups and, for a while, hopped around the courts that mushroomed in the metropolis.

They made up the bulk of the crowd that filled up the courtside and lower levels of the PhilSports Arena for the matches. All were in awe of the level of play, how the shuttlecock stayed afloat despite smashes from the baseline or well-placed drops.

The crowd perhaps saw more of themselves in the doubles matches, the format of choice of the badminton barkada (group).

In a semifinal match, two experienced men?s pairs?a tall Chinese pair and a Filipino-sized Indonesian tandem?unleashed a whole array of basic and acrobatic shots. Both sides were seasoned and ranked in international play.

No angle was too difficult. It was just a matter of who had the craftier moves and better defense.

The crowd was obviously picking up tips on how to play their own games. Barkadas were whispering among themselves about angles and court movement.

At this level, a baseline smash is a basic weapon, unlike in weekend or after-office play where many may not have the same legs or vertical leap for that shot.

Nevertheless, we shouldn?t be surprised if there will be more than the usual baseline smash attempts in our Metro courts this week.

The Indonesian pair clearly displayed that badminton relies so much more on wrist action than large sweeping motions. From the warmups, the duo was working on short, almost table tennis-like, shots in clear anticipation of the defense required to counter swift attacks at the net.

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The other perspective is from developing our own players for high-caliber play. Many who came were a tad disappointed to be unable to use their noisemakers and cheers for Filipino players.

The reality is we still have so much more to do to arrive at a more competitive level against other countries that have played the game longer or taken longer time to train their players.

Sports analyst Mozy Ravena said the tournament is good for promoting the game despite the disappointment of not seeing more Filipinos play in the later phases of the tournament.

?We really need to let Pinoy players play at this standard because not all of them can go out to get training abroad,? Ravena said.

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And maybe that?s why efforts to promote any sport by hosting tournaments and bringing over top-level talent are always laudable.

Getting our own players out in the world will have to be done. Making so many more of them play against top-notch competition at home, however, serves the purpose as well.

And who knows, maybe from that badminton crowd, a future champion may emerge. I overheard some children and teenagers brought by their families to watch. They were talking badminton, asking questions and analyzing the superb players they marveled at.

To keep their interest alive is already a move in the right direction by badminton officials in this country.