NMBF to fete badminton tourney winners

By Jon Perez
Reporter

Women's B doubles champions Loyda Ito, left, and Babes Cielo celebrate their finals win against Marlene Peraja and Emily Vargas in last week's finals of the Inaugural Michelob Ultra Badminton Tournament at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium. (Shirley Kim)




The Northern Marianas Badminton Federation will honor the winners of the recently concluded Inaugural Michelob Ultra Badminton Tournament today in a simple ceremony.

The banquet will be held at 6pm at the Chambre Bar at the Fiesta Resort & Spa Saipan.

Six pairs and one singles player in the seven divisions were crowned during the May 6 finals at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

The inaugural tournament was supported in part by Michelob-MARPAC, At Your Service, SaipanCell, JET Holdings, PMIC, Serenity Salon, Elegance Café, NIC, Canton Restaurant, National Office Supply, Makeover Beauty Salon, Megavision, Venus Beauty Salon, Vargas Construction, Esolutions Inc., Philippine Consul General Wilfredo Maximo, and N.C. Matsumoto.

Leading the list of winners are Priyantha Wijayaguharatne, who won two titles in the men’s A singles title and then teamed up with John Nguyen to win the doubles crown.

Joining them are Joseph Santos and Alvin Alvarez in the men's B doubles while Babes Cielo and Loida Ito, who lost their opening game, swept their way to the women's B crown by winning their next six matches including a thrilling 21-16, 15-21, 21-19 decision against Marlene Peraja and Emily Vargas in the finals.

In the mixed doubles, Vales paired up with Malasarte to earn the title due to having the higher quotient among the five pairs that survived the single elimination round.

In the C class, the men's pair of Efren Cacdac and Paul Navarro, and the women's team of Angie Ito and Ana Rose Omori won their division titles without losing a match sweeping the elimination round en route to the finals win.
(Saipan Tribune)