MANILA, Philippines -- The Philippine Badminton Association will hold the Philippine Badminton Open on Feb. 20-26, 2023, to serve as the national team's build-up for the 32nd Southeast Asian Games in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

The tournament will be hosted at the Dragonsmash Badminton Center in Chino Roces Avenue, Makati City.

This is the first time in three years that the federation will hold the competition. The 2019 edition of the tournament held at the Muntinlupa Sports Complex served as the test event for the 30th Southeast Asian Games.

"The Intercollegiate Tournament was able to prove to us that there are a lot of players that have a lot of potential here in our country," said Cagayan de Oro City District 1 councilor Imee Moreno, who is also the project director of this tournament. "We are very much excited about what is in store for us in the world of badminton.

"The Philippine Badminton Open is a milestone for us because this will be the start of our national ranking system for our players. This is where we can help develop and hone the skills of our players. This is also through this tournament that we can support our national team players, especially as they prepare for the SEA Games and other international tournaments," she continued as the national rankings will be launched next month.

Five events will be played in the Super 500 tournament -- men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles.

Being a Super 500 tournament, there will be a total of P1,000,000 pot with P70,000 going to the winners of the singles events. P150,000 will go to the champions of the doubles events.

"The Philippine Badminton Open has been there since I joined PBAD. The first tournament was back in 2016 and we had 500-plus players compete. After, the last time we held this was right before the 2019 SEA Games. It's very welcoming that we will have the Philippine Open again next year," said Philippine Badminton Association secretary-general Christopher Quimpo.

"A lot of learnings and clamor for tournaments happened since then. But a question was raised, 'Who's really the best in our country?' And we hope that we can find them in this tournament."

The entry fee is set at P1,000 per player per entry. This is inclusive of a shirt, a shuttlecock, and court fees.

All entries must be registered through the tournament's portal (https://tinyurl.com/PHIBadmintonOpen) on or before Feb. 5, 2023.

The Philippine Open is just one of the many domestic tournaments planned by PBAD for 2023.