NMBF welcomed to NMASA with honorees

For the first time in its brief existence, the Northern Marianas Badminton Federation had a pair of players receive recognition by the organization that oversees amateur sports in the CNMI.

Priyawathan Wijay and Diane Dar Juan were respectively voted as the Northern Marianas Amateur Sports Association’s Male and Female Athletes of the Month on Thursday night when the heads of local sporting groups met in the conference room of the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

NMBF president Jonathan Perez was pleased to present the attendees his federation’s recommendation based on their merits during October’s Inaugural NMBF Tournament.

Wijay won the men’s singles championship in the weeklong tournament without losing a set when a huge field descended upon the Ada Gym eager to participate with racquets and shuttlecocks in hand.

The champion breezed through the preliminary rounds and earned a bye through the third round of action by virtue of his strong play. Once in the semifinals, Wijay defeated Raj Jayalal to face Macoi Aguda in the finals.

After opening up with a 21-12 win in the first set, the Commonwealth Health Center physician held off Aguda late to clinch the title with a 21-14 win. He didn’t stop there either, as Wijay teamed up with Ryan Achas to take the doubles title as well. Wijay hails from Sri Lanka.

Dar Juan also enjoyed success on the Ada floor as she defeated Cleofe Santos and Janice Bungalos in back-to-back matches to win the women’s crown. After sweeping Santos, 21-13 and 21-16, in the semifinals, the 30-year-old native of Paco, Manila in the Philippines faced stiff competition from Bungalos to win the best-of-three championship match, 21-15, 9-21, 21-18.

A pair of swimmers was acknowledged for their efforts in the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool as the Saipan Swim Club’s Kensuke Kimura and Grace Kimball earned the Student Athlete honors.

Ten-year-old Kimura won all four of his events in the All-Schools Meet, recorded lifetime best times in the 50m and 100m breaststroke, and came within one half of a second of breaking the CNMI record in the 200m freestyle.

While in the Guam Invitational meet, Kimura was spectacular once again, winning all five of his heats and beating his best in the 50m breaststroke for the second time in two weeks.

SSC head coach Michael Stewart added that Kimura has yet to lose a race since his last birthday, and that Kimball has been developing into a standout distance swimmer in the past two years. Most recently she won all three of her events during the All-Schools Meet going away, touching the tiles six seconds before her closest competitor in the 100m freestyle. Kimball continued to shine in the 200m freestyle when she finished 18 seconds ahead of the runner-up and she dominated the 400m freestyle with a 67-second lead over second place.