The Solomon Islands National Badminton Federation have successfully completed their first ever Easter badminton tournament, with 23 players competing over the long weekend in April.
A large percentage of participating individuals came from the Solomon Islands National University physical education program, along with players from surrounding districts, including central Honiara and White River.
The tournament consisted of men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles and women’s doubles and was able to take place due to the BWF Membership grants, which enabled members to access funding of up to $5000 to implement activities which would drive badminton participation in country.
The winners from the finals were as follows:
Men’s Singles: Moffatt Avo
Women’s Singles: Teue Maitaki
Men’s Doubles: Moffatt Avo and Thinking Ngiusanga Maitaki
Women’s Doubles: Teue and Helena
“Despite it being Easter weekend, it was very encouraging to see a lot of young girls and boys taking part in the tournament,” said Solomon Islands National Badminton Federation (SINBF) President, Thinking Ngiusanga Maitaki.
Aspiring technical officials from SINBF were also put through their paces earlier this year as they undertook Badminton Oceania’s Pacific Umpire course last November. Seven of the umpires went on to umpire at the Easter tournament.
SINBF intends to continue delivery of badminton through implementation of Shuttle Time in schools across the capital, which will lead to another tournament for junior players (U15 and U19), which is planned commence in June.