Badminton players and enthusiasts feasted on exhilarating matchers during the Bingo Bonanza Philippine Open Badminton held last week. They raided the PhilSports arena to witness the rally of feather shuttlecocks and the powerful smashes of the country’s top badminton contenders.

The badminton frenzy of this tournament captured a remarkable audience five years ago when the badminton trend hit a full blast. It was mostly triggered by sports enthusiast who decided on engaging in a less arduous sport as compared to basketball, but a more thrilling one compared to golf. Fans favoured the double matches, with badminton pair matches having the bulk of the audience turnout.

For this year, the tournament’s semi-final match in the men’s category was played by a Chinese duo against an Indonesian pair. Both tandems kicked off to a stirring first round that lead to the exhibition of basic to advanced, acrobatic moves in the badminton court. The crowd jeered and booed in the exchange of highly defensive maneuvers that came from every possible angle of the quadrangle.

In the middle period of the match, the two pairs did baseline smashes that served as their basic weapons to progress to the next round with a victory. Forgotten were the amateur plays that the other badminton teams exhibited during the earlier parts of the tournament. The Chinese and Indonesian pairs went for higher leaps and vertical saves that generated even more excitement from the crowd.

The Indonesian contenders proved that professional badminton matches are more than just sweeping swings. It requires more powerful and ingenious moves that are borrowed from tennis. Thus, they delivered short, agile shots that confused the anticipating team with a mixture of possible counterattacks. The Chinese team returned with equally defensive moves but were overcome with the opponent that came sailing through the net.