17 join interscholastic badminton league

From left, Public School System Athletic Program director Nick Gross and staff Lawrence Camacho and Joshua Andrew attend a meeting with Northern Marianas Badminton Association officials to discuss the schedule for the inaugural TakeCare Insurance Interscholastic Badminton League last week at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium conference room.
(CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

The TakeCare Insurance Interscholastic Badminton League will kick off this Saturday at the TSL Sports Complex with 17 teams participating in the inaugural competition.

In the middle school division, 10 teams will be vying for the championship. The list includes Francisco M. Sablan Middle School, Hopwood, Mt. Carmel School, Dandan Middle School, and Saipan International School, which are in Bracket A of the double-elimination contest. Bracket B has Tinian Junior and Senior High School, Dr. Rita H. Inos Junior and Senior High School (Rota), Saipan Community School, Tanapag Middle School, and Chacha Oceanview Middle School.

Six matches will be played in the opening weekend this Saturday, starting at 1pm. Bracket A matches will have FMS facing Hopwood, Mt. Carmel battling Dandan, and SIS dueling the winner in the FMS-Hopwood tiff. Two more games are slated in Bracket A and pairings would depend on the results of the first three matches.

In Bracket B, only one game will take place this weekend with SCS challenging Tanapag. Tinian and Rota will have their debut on Feb. 19 as they collide in Game 2 in the group, while Chacha will also have its first game next month against the winner in the SCS-Tanapag duel.

The middle school division will have a double-elimination format in each bracket and the top finisher per group will square off for the championship scheduled for March 12.

The TakeCare Insurance Interscholastic Badminton League is a team-format competition with each school playing five games/events per match—boys singles, girls singles, boys doubles, girls doubles, and mixed doubles. Each event is a best-of-three game and each game is race to 11 points. All five events will be played per pairing and points will be awarded to each school: 3 points for two-game (straight) win for the victor and 0 for the loser; 2 points for 3-game victory for the winner and 1 for the loser. The team with the most points wins the match.

The same format will be implemented in the high school division, but each game is race to 21.

Mt. Carmel School, Kagman High School, Saipan International School, Saipan Southern High School, Marianas High School, Tinian, and Dr. Rita H. Inos Junior and Senior High School are the participating schools and they will start the double-elimination competition on Feb. 19. Tinian will debut against Mt. Carmel, Rota will take on KHS, SIS will meet Southern, and MHS will collide against the winner of the Tinian-MCS game.

“We are excited for the first season of the interscholastic badminton league. Good luck to everyone and we’re looking forward to getting this expansion sport started and increasing access to sporting opportunities for our youth,” PSS Athletic director Nick Gross said.

Meanwhile, NMBA president Merlie Tolentino thanked Gross and the PSS leadership for including badminton in its interscholastic sports program. She reiterated the importance of the interscholastic league in talent identification and development and in the continued growth of badminton in the NMI. (PR)