Badminton Oceania president gives high praises to NMBA

From left, NMI badminton player and Northern Marianas Badminton Association vice president Nathan Guerrero and NMBA treasurer Shirley Kim pose with NMBA president Merlie Tolentino, holding the certificate of appreciation from Badminton Oceania Loke Poh Wang, right, during the awards ceremony of the TakeCare Saipan International 2023 last Sunday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.(CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

The CNMI has just recently concluded hosting for the first time two badminton Olympic qualifiers—the Crowne Plaza Northern Marianas Open 2023 and TakeCare Saipan International 2023.

The tournaments held over the past couple of weeks welcomed more than 200 players, coaches, and officials from 19 different countries, and according to Badminton Oceania president Loke Poh Wong, the Northern Marianas Badminton Association has put the CNMI on the world map for badminton.

During the awards ceremony of the TakeCare Saipan International 2023 last Sunday, Badminton Oceania gave the host NMBA a certificate of appreciation for the success of hosting the two qualifiers.

“This is the first time NMBA has hosted an event of this level and hopefully it’s not the last. So, to our sponsor Jerry Tan, president of the Northern Marianas Sports Association, thank you for the support and for your team. They have done a great job. The hospitality we’ve experienced over the past weeks has been outstanding. So, we certainly have put the Northern Marianas Badminton Association on the world map for badminton,” said Wong.

As for what it means for the CNMI’s hosting of an international badminton tournament of this scale, he said “This is very good news for Oceania and it’s very good news for the world of badminton that CNMI can host an international tournament of this level.”

Badminton Oceania president Loke Poh Wong thanks the Northern Marianas Badminton Association for a successful hosting of the two recently concluded badminton qualifiers and presented a certificate of appreciation to NMBA board members last Sunday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.(LEIGH GASES)

“It was a fantastic effort by the Northern Marianas Badminton Association. They’ve put on a very spectacular two tournaments. This was really one of the best tournaments in Oceania the way it’s put up for the spectators, the players, the officials, for everyone. It’s fantastic,” he added.

Wong said about the players that participated, “there’s no doubt the Asians and some of the Europeans dominate badminton. They are all professional players. The players here, some are very high level even from Asia—they’ve played in some of the big tournaments and are here to collect Olympic points… Some of the players are also looking for ranking points, so they are at a different level.”

The Crowne Plaza Northern Marianas Open 2023 was the first tournament that was held from June 6 to 11. Chinese-Taipei swept three events, while South Korea took home two championships. The TakeCare Saipan International 2023 was from June 13 to June 18, with Chinese-Taipei and Japan taking home two championships, while USA won one.