SIBU: Badminton fans here are in for a rare double treat with two badminton tournaments coming up in June.
Thumb’s Up Badminton Academy, together with Sibu Badminton Association (BA) are organising the Thumb’s Up Sibu Open Aged Group Championship for June 9 – 11 and the Sarawak Closed 2014 Championship for June 13 – 15.
Both will be held at Thumb’s Up Academy Hall in Channel Road.
Sibu BA secretary Dato Thomas Tieng said this was the first time in after eight years that they were tasked by Sarawak Badminton Association (SBA) to organise the Sarawak Closed Championship.
“We are confident that Sarawak Closed will attract players from throughout the state,” he told press conference recently.
Sarawak Closed is open to Sarawakians or any Malaysian who has resided in Sarawak for at least six months before the date of the tournament.
Sarawak Closed is divided into Men’s and Women’s Singles, Men’s and Women’s Doubles, Mixed Doubles, Veteran Men’s Singles (aged 45 and above) and Veteran Men’s Doubles (aged 45 years and above). The tournament shall start on June 13 at 8.30am with the final on June 15 at 1pm.
The closing date is May 23, and entry fees are RM10 for singles and RM20 for doubles.
For the prizes format, the Men’s Singles and Men’s Doubles champion will get RM600, runners-up will get RM300 and semi-finalists will get RM200.
The Veteran Men’s Singles, Veteran Men’s Doubles, Women’s Singles, Women’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles will get RM400 for the champion title and RM200 each for runners-up and semi-finalists.
For the Sibu Open Aged Group, Tieng expected several outstanding players from the Peninsular Malaysia to join the fray.
“I have already received queries from some players who expressed interest. Hopefully, we will be able to get them here as it will help boost the popularity of the tournament.”
Sibu Open is categorised into Boy’s Singles and Doubles Under-18, Under-15 and Under-12 and Girl’s Singles and Doubles Under-16 and Under-12.
Entry fee for the singles categories is RM5 and RM10 for doubles categories.
The closing is May 26.
The organiser only accepts a maximum of 64 teams for all the 10 categories and would only hold the competition if there was a minimum of 16 teams.
However, in the event that there are less than eight participants for whichever category, than that category will be cancelled.
Each participant can only take up two categories in the same aged or older group.
The winners in the boy’s and girl’s singles in the Under-15 and Under 12 will receive Victor cash voucher worth RM200, 1st runners-up will get Victor cash voucher worth RM120 and semi-finalists will receive Victor cash voucher worth RM60.
The winners in the boy’s and girl’s doubles in the Under-15 and Under-12 will receive Victor cash voucher worth RM300, 1st runners-up will get Victor cash voucher worth RM200 and semi-finalists will receive Victor cash voucher worth RM100.
The winners in the boy’s singles U-18 and girl’s singles U-16 will receive Victor cash voucher worth RM400, RM320 for 1st runners-up and RM160 for semi-finalists.
For Boy’s doubles U-18 and girl’s doubles U-16, the winners will get RM600 worth of Victor cash voucher, RM520 for 1st runners-up and RM260 for semi-finalists.