The NMI Junior National Badminton Team players and coaches pose for a photo in the departure area of the Francisco C. Ada/Saipan International Airport Sunday morning before heading to Australia to compete in the Pacific Under 17 Invitation Team Challenge.
(NMBA) — The NMI Junior National Badminton Team left for Australia Sunday morning to compete in the Pacific Under 17 Invitation Team Challenge 2024, which will be held at Badminton Geelong in Victoria from Feb. 16 to 18.
The national junior squad is made up of Marianas High School students Genelyn Lansangan, Marlon Bautista, and Sernantie Jimenez, Saipan Southern High School’s Shaina Malonzo, Saipan International School’s Lina Tsukagoshi, and Tanapag Middle School’s Evan Seguritan. All six are part of the NMI Junior National Team Pool that have been training regularly since last year and have been participating in the interscholastic badminton program for years. Joining the squad in Australia are coaches Janelle Pangilinan and Ezekiel Macario.
In the Pacific Under 17 Invitation Team Challenge 2024, the NMI players will be battling the representatives of Fiji, New Caledonia, Cook Islands, Tahiti, and Guam. The competition involves mixed teams with the opposing squads playing in the boys and girls singles and doubles and mixed doubles. The NMI will have its first game against Guam on Feb. 16 at 1 p.m. (2 p.m. Saipan time) and the NMI will have back-to-back matches as it will also take on Fiji on the same day in the 5 p.m. pairing. On Feb. 17, the NMI will duel Tahiti in the 9 a.m. morning match and then squares off against Cook Islands in the afternoon game at 1 p.m. New Caledonia will be the NMI’s last assignment as they collide at 9 a.m. on Feb. 18.
The NMI representatives are scheduled to arrive in Australia this Monday afternoon and will have a brief training camp at Badminton Geelong before starting their campaign in the NMI Junior National Badminton Team.
Asked about the team’s chances in the competition, Pangilinan said the squad is heading to the tournament more prepared and ready to put on their best performance. The team went through two training camps on Saipan under Robbie Thackham, the coaching and development manager for Badminton Oceania. Pangilinan, Macario and Northern Marianas Badminton Association vice president Nate Guerrero also trained the team four times a week to prepare the young players for the tough battle in Australia.
“The goal is to make it to the podium this time and use the experience that the two players (Malonzo and Tsukagoshi) gained from last year’s the Pacific Under 15 Invitation Team Challenge to provide leadership to the team. The players have been doing well in our training sessions and we also received good feedback from Mr. Thackham during the two training camps he conducted,” Pangilinan said.
When Malonzo and Tsukagoshi joined last year’s Pacific Invitation Challenge, the team was just one notch away from gaining a medal in the competition after finishing fourth and beating Guam and Tonga.
For her part, Northern Marianas Badminton Association President Merlie Tolentino thanked Badminton Oceania for extending again the invitation to NMI to participate in the Pacific Invitation Challenge. She also acknowledged the support of the players’ parents and the school officials for allowing the students to be excused from their class to have the opportunity to compete off-island.
“It takes a lot of effort and support from all the stakeholders in our program — from the parents to the principals, to be able to provide this great opportunity to our players. This is our second participation in the Pacific Invitation Challenge and each time our players come back from a competition, they learn a lot and these help and inspire them to become better players,” Tolentino said.
“We wish our team the best of luck. Our coaches have worked hard to get them ready for this competition and with the team’s commitment to the program, we, at the NMBA, are confident they will be able to put on a strong performance in Australia.”
