By James Sablan
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Variety News Staff
THE Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium was a whirlwind of shuttlecocks and intense rallies on Saturday as the PSS-NMBA Interscholastic Badminton League SY25-26 season opened, with Marianas High School and Eucon International School emerging as the early teams to beat after posting dominant scores across multiple brackets.
In a standout showing from its deep roster, Marianas High School Team 2 secured a commanding eight-point total in recent matchups.
Their dominance was most evident against Kagman High School 1, where they triumphed in all five events — men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles, and mixed doubles — to collect five points.
Although they faced stiffer resistance from Grace Christian Academy, MHS 2 still prevailed in the men’s doubles, women’s singles, and women’s doubles to earn three more points and secure the top spot in Bracket 3.
In second place is Saipan International School 1 with seven points, followed by Agape Christian School 1 with five, GCA with four, KHS 1 with one, and Saipan Southern High School 2 with zero.
Bracket 1 is currently led by MHS Team 3 with seven points after nearly sweeping SSHS 1 — dropping only the men’s singles match — for four points and edging SIS 3, 3-2.
SIS 3 is in second place with two points, followed by SSHS 1 with one, while Tinian Jr/Sr High School and Rota Jr/Sr High School remain scoreless.
Eucon International School also tops its bracket with seven points. Five of those came from a sweep of Mount Carmel School, while Eucon earned two more points in a loss to SIS 2 by winning the women’s singles and women’s doubles events.
In second place is ACS 2 with six points, followed by KHS 2 and MHS 1 with four each, SIS 2 with three, and MCS with one.
James Sablan has been a sports reporter for Variety since 2013. He was a liberal arts student of Northern Marianas College and covers all local sports.
