HOLIDAY FUN BADMINTON BOWL and 2nd Annual ARIZONA HS BOYS STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS - December 7, 2013

December 7, AZBC, Mesa...

In a tournament highlighting "interesting" events, such as men's and women's half-court singles and the 3-person net rotation game involving 16 teams of 3 players each, along with the standard men's & women's doubles with lots of round robin play, AND the 2nd annual ARIZONA HS BOYS STATE BADMINTON CHAMPIONSHIPS, perhaps the most fun of all was the introduction of the "Most Interesting Man & Woman" award! Most Interesting Woman & Man Award winners were Sherry Yuan and Naren Koka - see photo. We always value good sportsmanship, so we took it up another level with this new award. With several different nominees in the running, it was the big smiles, great sportsmanship and the fact that Sherry has twin very cute daughters and Naren likes to kill people with his smash that set them apart this time.

The half-court singles had 32 women and 16 men competing in open and consolation draws playing quick 7-point games-- providing rapid-fire excitement and a great way to warm up for the rest of the tournament. Kai-Ning Khor defeated Nga Le in the women's finals 7-3 and Bui Hoang defeated Naren Koka 7-5 for the men's title. The 3-Person Net Rotation Game was full of totally unpredictable results with the team of Roger Goettl-Sydney LaPierre-Brittany Fielden beating Aditya Vaidya-Lauren Eyring-Colleen Ridge in the championship match 7-5.

The Arizona HS BOYS State Championships is held to give a place for high school boys to have competition outside of helping the high school girls practice during their fall AIA High School Badminton season. This year just 3 boys competed, Josiah Acob and Benjamin Meek from Mesa High and Alfred Chang from Hamilton HS. Alfred won the singles title with wins over Josiah and Benjamin, but with Alfred's partner failing to show, the Mesa boys won the doubles title by default and with it the over all team title for Mesa. The most interesting match was a singles match deciding 2nd place between Josiah and Benjamin which lasted more than an hour with a final score 15-13, 14-17, 17-15 in favor of Josiah.

The women's and men's doubles completed the day with 16 women's teams in 4 pools of 4, and 10 men's teams in 2 pools of 5. The pool play placed teams in the championship rounds or the consolation rounds depending on their finish. Everyone played a minimum of 5 matches. In the championship matches Chandler Begay and Nga Le won the ladies doubles 21-17, 21-16 over Kai-Ning Khor and Ashley Nam, while Bui Hoang and Chin Khor beat Naren Koka and Mike Hilliard 21-13, 13-21, 21-17 for the men's title.