Smart vows badminton support

INSPIRED by the huge number of participants in the recent Smart Badminton Open National Championship and the Sun Cellular National Junior tournaments, PLDT chair Manny V. Pangilinan promised to sustain the support to the development of badminton in the country.

Smart Communications, one of the companies under the MVP group, will maintain the P1 million total cash prize it gave out in this year’s event.

Pangilinan, also a supporter of basketball, boxing and football, among others, is also backing the badminton national team as chair of the Philippine Badminton Association (PBA).

“He was very happy to see the large number of quality participants and how competitive the matches were,” said PBA national team manager lawyer Eric Espanol.

According to Espanol, PBA president Jejomar Binay, secretary-general Albee Benitez and Pangilinan have brought  badminton to a higher level.