The winners posing for a group photograph with SBA president Tan Sri Datuk Amar Abdul Aziz Husain (centre) and treasurer Soh Theng Sai after the prize presentation.
KUCHING: Sarawak Badminton Association (SBA) players dominated the 1st leg of the Sarawak Junior State Closed badminton championship when they captured six out of the 16 categories contested at SBA Hall along Jalan Lapangan Terbang yesterday.
Apart from sweeping the singles and doubles titles in the Girls U18, other categories won were Boys U14 singles (Barrie Chong), Girls U14 singles (Flora Fong), Boys U14 doubles (Barrie Chong-Nik Azizi Murat) and Girls U16 doubles (Flora Fong-Kristy Tay).
Kourtney Kho, the top seed, did not have to lose any sweat in winning the Girls U18 singles title as her teammate and second seed Viviene Kua conceded a walkover.
The duo won the Girls doubles title when they topped the league standings with four points after beating the combined pair of Florence Tiong (Chung Jing Sport, Miri) and Yong Ping Ping (MBA) 21-17, 22-20, and Ling En You (Chung Jing Sport, Miri) and Stella Thian (SBA) 21-12, 21-7.
Chung Jing Sport, Miri also had a good outing as they captured three titles, with Kennyson Josep Lojir bagging the Boys U12 singles and Erika Vallensia the Girls U12 singles, and Erika Vallensia-Ho Sing Yen capturing the Girls U12 doubles.
Another team which walked away with three titles was MBA through Kam Wei Li in the Girls U16 singles, Wilson Lau in the Boys U18 singles and Wilson Lau-Kam Sing Siong in the Boys U18 doubles.
En route to lifting the Boys U18 singles title, second seeded Lau had a first round bye, beat Benjamin Ling of Bernard Phoa Training Centre 21-6, 21-4 in the second round, Az Zubair Harry of Pacific Badminton Management (PBM) 21-6, 21-15 in the third round, Jonathan Jong of SBA 21-17, 21-12 in the last eight and third seed Jonathan Kho also of PBM 21-17, 21-13 in the semi-final.
He did not play in the final as teammate Kam Sing Siong, the top seed, conceded a walkover.
PBM took two titles, winning the Boys U16 singles through Owen Ting who also partnered Stanley Chiong to emerge champions in the Boys U16 doubles.
A total of 332 shuttlers from 21 teams competed in the championship aimed at selecting players to represent Sarawak at the National Junior Circuit Sabah-Sarawak Zone at Likas Stadium, Kota Kinabalu in Sabah from April 24-26.
They also get the chance to be selected for the 100 Plus National Junior Inter State U18 Mixed Team Championships in Negeri Sembilan from June 11-14.