Junior player Lina Tsukagoshi, left, and senior player Janelle Pangilinan, seen here in a competition that the Northern Marianas Badminton Association hosted in September. They are teaming up anew to compete in the NMI Badminton National Championships this weekend at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.
(NMBA) — The Northern Marianas Badminton Association will wrap up the 2023 season by staging the NMI Badminton National Championships this weekend at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.
The season-finale will feature competitions in the U17 age group and the open category. Both divisions will have the singles, doubles, and mixed doubles events. As of Wednesday, nearly 50 players had signed up for the tournament that will run from Dec. 8 to 10.
Majority of the registered participants are part of the junior national training pool that went through a training camp under Robbie Thackham, coaching and development manager for Badminton Oceania, last month at the TSL Sports Complex. This weekend’s competition will also feature senior players that have undergone the similar training camp with the Badminton Oceania official.
“It’s time for our players to showcase what they have learned from the training camp. They had a pocket tournament of sorts during Robbie’s training camp, but this time, we will have our regular competition where players’ skill levels are mixed,” NMBA President Merlie Tolentino said.
The NMI Badminton National Championships is also a good warm-up for U17 players who are preparing for next month’s TakeCare Interscholastic Badminton League 2023-2024 Season, High School Division. Marianas High School won last season’s co-ed high school championship over Agape Christian School and the Dolphins have a bunch of entries both in the U17 age group and open category in the season-finale tournament.
Some junior players are teaming up with the seniors to compete in the open division, while there are also junior players pairing up to challenge the seniors. Janelle Pangilinan and Saipan International School’s Lina Tsukagoshi are competing in the women’s open doubles, while Kyle Salcedo is with Prapti Modal in the mixed doubles in the open category, which has several adult players, including former national players Andrew Galvez and Nathan Guerrero.
The boys U17 singles has 10 entries, while five will battle for the girls U17 singles tiara. In the boys doubles, there are six teams, while the girls has four, and the mixed doubles has drawn nine pairs. In the open category, the men’s singles field has 14; women’s has three; men’s doubles has 10 teams; women’s doubles has five; and mixed doubles is crowded with 12 pairs. Draws for each event will be announced on Friday.
