SPORTS BRIEFS

Badminton a go for today and tomorrow

Division of Sports and Recreation Director Joe Lizama informed badminton regulars last Thursday that the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium will be available today, May 13, and tomorrow, May 14, beginning at 1pm.

Badminton regulars returned to their Saturday 4pm schedule the past two weeks after the Basketball Association of the Northern Mariana Islands shifted their weekend schedule to Sunday. But all that will end today, as BANMI is set to play its Budweiser Cup games again every Saturday beginning at 4pm.

In related news, badminton players are being encouraged to adopt scoring in their games to quicken the pace of turnover on the courts’ use.

Matches between men are suggested to be best-of-three affair and up to 15 points, while matches between women are only up to 11. Mixed doubles are up to 15 points.

Badminton players regularly play at the gym from 7:30am to 10:30am on weekdays. DSR charges $1 per day per player for the use of the facility’s lights. Regular badminton players are also in the process of setting up their organization.

RGA ratchets up membership incentives

In an effort to lure more members, the Refaluwasch Golf Association has ratcheted up its membership incentives for the 2006 season.

According to RGA president Jess Wabol, the golf club has approved additional incentives for its annual Low Net award and Sid K. Peter Memorial award. The latter is given to the duffer that takes part in the most number of qualifying and monthly tournaments for the year.

Unlike the past when winning the two plums will only get you a trophy and chump change, this year’s winners of the Low Net and Sid K. Peter awards will each take home $100, a trophy, and free RGA membership for a year.

The prizes for the RGA Club Champion remains the same with the winner bagging $200, trophy, free RGA membership, and entry fee to a tournament of his choice.

For more information about RGA and its monthly tournaments, contact Wabol at 288-1129. Tony Satur can be reached at 322-1562/1563, while Sonny Flores can be reached at 234-1748.

Masters bowling tourney set for Memorial Day weekend

The 24th CNMI May Masters Bowling Tournament will be held on Memorial Day weekend from May 26 to 28 at the Saipan Bowling Center in Oleai.

The mid-year tenpin bowling classic includes four bowling events: Singles, doubles, team of four bowlers, and masters—with each event offering separate sets of prizes.

To qualify for the masters event, a bowler needs to compete in the singles, doubles, and team events and must be among the top 36 bowlers among the men and top 24 among the women, based on total pinfalls.

Both the men’s and women’s masters will be made up of a total of 12 games with the top scorer in the women declared as the champion.

The format in the men’s division, meanwhile is a little more complicated with the No. 1 bowler advancing to the finals. The rest of the Top 4 will then duke it out in a one-game roll-off for the right to face the top placer in the finals.

The first finalist needs only to win one game to be declared the champion, while the second needs to win twice to bag the title.

For entry forms and more information about the tournament, call SBA official Ross Zapanta at 322-5627 or SBA lanes supervisor Robert Talavera at 234-6420.

DFS Micronesian Tennis starts May 19

The Northern Mariana Islands Tennis Federation will hold the 25th Annual DFS Micronesian Tennis Championships starting next week at the Pacific Islands Club tennis courts.

The tournament will have doubles and junior singles on the first weekend from May 19 to May 21, while singles and junior doubles will follow in the second weekend from May 26 to May 29.

Categories in the doubles division are men’s 40-and-over, men’s open, men’s 3.0, women’s open, women’s 3.0, mixed doubles open, and mixed doubles 3.0. Junior players can chose from boys’ and girls’ 18-and-under, boys’ and girls’ 13-and-under, and boys’ and girls’ 9-and-under.

Singles divisions up for grabs are men’s 40-and-over, men’s open, men’s 4.5, men’s 4.0, men’s 3.0, men’s 2.0, women’s open, women’s 3.0, and women’s 2.0. Categories in junior doubles include boys’ and girls’ 18-and-under and boys’ and girls’ 13-and-under.

Deadline for submission of completed entry forms and entry fee is on May 15, 5pm for participants of the doubles and junior singles divisions and May 21 for players signing up for singles and junior doubles.

Entry cost is $15 for participants of singles play and $10 per player seeing action in the doubles competition.

For more information on the 24th Annual DFS Micronesian Tennis Championships, contact NMITA vice president and tournament director Jeff Race at 483-5652 or NMITA president and co-director Eli Buenavantura at 484-1558.