NMBF Team Tourney Set November

Over 100 are expected to take part in Northern Marianas Badminton Federation's team tournament slated for next month. (Saipan Tribune) The Northern Marianas Badminton Federation will hold its culminating badminton tournament in November for its over 100 members in the CNMI.

Dubbed the NMBF Team Tournament, the competition is open only to members with badminton skills grade from A to D. It will consist of at least eight teams with at least 10 members each. The teams will have corresponding sponsors, which will be determined based on availability of sponsorships.

The NMBF Team Tournament is tentatively scheduled to run from Nov. 22 to Dec. 14 during Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays within the scheduled dates. The team tournament will include divisions in the men's doubles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles.

Registration is now ongoing and application forms are available at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium starting Oct. 27, from Mondays through Thursdays in the morning and on Saturdays and Sundays during the regular badminton practice games.

Registration fee is $30 each participant. The fee includes game fees and banquet fees for the awarding ceremony in December.

NMBF president Marconi Calindas said he is excited about the club's second team competition.

“We are looking forward to an improved system since we have had coaching and umpire skills training recently from Oceania Badminton Confederation. We really learned a lot from the training especially with proper umpiring during games. We have learned so much. However, we need the members' cooperation to make this event worthier and more rewarding than last year's successful team tournament. We are still looking and asking for the generosity of our avid sponsors to help us out in this event,” he said.

For more information on the upcoming tournament, contact membership committee head

Hapi Gabriel at 287-4274.

On another note, NMBF is currently holding its Friday Night Viewing of the recently concluded Beijing Olympics Badminton Gold Medal Matches. Last Friday the group started with the men's and women's doubles gold medal matches between Indonesia and China and Korea and China, respectively. At least 25 members gathered last Friday at member Elma Labuson's home theater in As Matuis. The next Friday Night Viewing is scheduled on Nov. 7 tentatively scheduled at Shirley's Coffee Shop in Susupe from 6:30pm to 9:30pm.

The group will be viewing the gold medal matches in men's and women's singles and mixed doubles. The purpose of this activity is to inform the members how the professional badminton is being played internationally.

The members learn from the actual games the proper positioning and footwork during the games.

“Our female members learned last time that women are not a weak gender because the female badminton players in the during the Olympics showed impressive power smashes and agile footwork. They also learned more about the attack and defense positions. Next time the members will see that women and men during mix doubles play equally in the court,” said Calindas. (saipan tribune)