All eyes will be on last year’s singles champions Marc Velasco and Mika De Guzman as the 2024 Philippine Badminton Open unfurls on June 5.

Velasco and De Guzman, who won the men’s and women’s singles events last edition, take on a huge field of 500 participants in the tournament which is being organized by the Philippine Badminton Association (PBAD).

The qualifying and semifinal rounds are set at the First Pacific Leadership Academy in Antipolo City from June 5 to 10 while the championship day is on June 11 at the Gameville Ballpark in Mandaluyong.

“The Philippine Badminton Open is the tournament that proves who the best of the best in the country is,” said PBAD vice president Jude Turcuato.

“Badminton is one of the sports that MVPSF identified where the Filipino can be a world-class athlete. Organizing tournaments like this will get our athletes busy as this tournament kicks off our local calendar,” she added.

The tournament has five categories: the men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles, and mixed doubles, where they battle it out for a chunk of the prize money worth over P1 million.

The Badminton Open will be livestreamed on Smarts Sports’ Facebook page, Puso Pilipinas and official page of PBAD.