Camille Naredo

The Asian Open Figure Skating Trophy 2025 is taking place at the SM Skating Rink at the Mall of Asia. Paige Javier, ABS-CBN News

The Asian Open Figure Skating Trophy 2025 is taking place at the SM Skating Rink at the Mall of Asia.

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SKATING

Paige Javier

ABS-CBN News

<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1754133599022viber_image_2025-08-02_18-14-00-478.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="The Asian Open Figure Skating Trophy 2025 is taking place at the SM Skating Rink at the Mall of Asia. Paige Javier, ABS-CBN News"/>The Asian Open Figure Skating Trophy 2025 is taking place at the SM Skating Rink at the Mall of Asia. Paige Javier, ABS-CBN News</div>MANILA -- Over 170 athletes from 19 countries will see action in the Asian Open Figure Skating Trophy 2025, which opened on Saturday at the SM Skating Rink in Mall of Asia, Pasay City. The event also serves as the start of the of the 2026 Winter Olympic season.Philippine Skating Union President Nikki Cheng led the opening ceremony on Saturday afternoon.&quot;We were surprised of the reception na sobrang daming sumali. Because initially this was supposed to be a four-day event, but we have to extend it to five days and we&#x27;re running 6am to 10pm daily, so that&#x27;s how well this was received. It&#x27;s the biggest competition that Philippines skating has ever hosted,&quot; Cheng told ABS-CBN News.&quot;And we feel that one of the reasons why it was received so well is because we are entering the Olympics season and the Philippines are the hosts of the first competition for this winter Olympics season,&quot; she said.The event will feature the Singles discipline for Men/Boys and Women/Girls in the Novice (Basic, Intermediate and Advances), Junior and Senior categories, as well as Senior Pairs. &quot;I think this competition is such an eye-opener to our skaters, because it&#x27;s a different level and they see what the competitive field is like. So, I just wish for them that they just take all of the learnings in and they see what level they have to be in in order to be competitive,&quot; the PHSU President said. Cheng said they have high hopes for Filipino skaters in the Southeast Asian Games.&quot;We do expect the Philippines to be on the podium for figure skating, because if we look at the results of the Asian Winter Games that was just held January of this year in Harbin, China, the Philippines is the highest ranking of all the Southeast Asian countries,&quot; she added.Cheng explained why this event is important not only for the Philippines, but all countries ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics and SEA Games.&quot;We will be using the results of this competition as one of the basis of who will be sent to the Olympic qualifiers in Beijing on September and also the Southeast Asian Games in Thailand in December,&quot; she shared.<div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/othersports/2025/8/1/hosting-of-fivb-futsal-gymnastics-world-cups-part-of-ph-s-efforts-to-boost-sports-tourism-1450">READ: Hosting of FIVB, Futsal, Gymnastics World Cups part of PH’s efforts to boost sports tourism</a></div>The PHSU President believes the country&#x27;s hosting of the major competition will help boost the Philippines as a sports tourism destination, one of the thrusts of Philippine Sports Commission Chairman Patrick Gregorio.&quot;I think that this is a very good opportunity for the economy of the Philippines. We are bringing skaters from the novice category to the senior, meaning they&#x27;re like 10 years old up to 20 years old. And one kid that comes here will definitely not come alone,&quot; Cheng said.&quot;So, the spending and the way that it contributes to the economy is definitely great. So, we hope that the Philippines gets to host more major competitions in the following years,&quot; she added.The PHSU President also thanked President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for vowing to full support for the country&#x27;s athletes.Maxine Bautista, who will be competing in the Senior Women category, said she&#x27;s looking forward to performing in front of the home crowd.&quot;I&#x27;m feeling pretty good going into it. Practice is going well. It feels really amazing especially my first Nationals was last November so it&#x27;s amazing to get the support. I can&#x27;t wait to have that support,&quot; she said.&quot;It&#x27;s definitely different. When I&#x27;m here at home in the Philippines, I feel like there&#x27;s so many more people. Friends, family and just the whole,&quot; Bautista added.She said having the tournament in the country also boosts awareness and interest for figure skating.&quot;I think this is great &#x27;cause especially when it is here in the mall. Because people will be walking by and take a glimpse. You never know they will come and skate and keep on building there,&quot; Bautisa shared.The 24-year-old based in Chicago said her goal for the tournament is to perform well so she will be sent to the Olympic qualifier and the SEA Games.&quot;It&#x27;s amazing and just to take part in that event is amazing. Thank you so much for the support and I&#x27;m looking forward to represent the Philippines,&quot; Bautista said on possibly representing the Philippines in the regional meet.The Philippines is fielding 20 skates in the Asian Open Figure Skating Trophy, including Sofia Frank, Cathryn Limketkai, Skye Chua, Paolo Borromeo, Brandon Baldoz, Isabella Gamez and Alexander Korovin. &quot;We hope that one day skating can be a more popular sport in the Philippines, because we feel that the Filipino can excel in figure skating,&quot; Cheng said.&quot;Skating can be for everybody... Yes I definitely think so. There&#x27;s so many disciplines in skating that you can really pick anything,&quot; Bautista said of the potential of developing Philippine skating.The Asian Open Figure Skating Trophy will run until August 5.

Over 170 athletes from 19 countries will see action in the Asian Open Figure Skating Trophy 2025, which opened on Saturday at the SM Skating Rink in Mall of Asia, Pasay City.

Over 170 athletes from 19 countries will see action in the Asian Open Figure Skating Trophy 2025, which opened on Saturday at the SM Skating Rink in Mall of Asia, Pasay City.

Asian Open Figure Skating Trophy 2025 kicks off in Pasay

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Asian Open Figure Skating Trophy 2025 kicks off in Pasay

Paige Javier,

ABS-CBN News

Published Aug 02, 2025 07:21 PM PHT

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Updated Aug 02, 2025 07:55 PM PHT

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Figure Skating

Asian Open Figure Skating Trophy 2025

Philippine Skating Union

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