Minneapolis & St. Paul Name All Conference

#1 posting 6.24. 2006

ALL CONFERENCE
Here is a link of AC performers from the Minneapolis and St. Paul City conferences found at the StarTribune. The usual suspects are there with Minneapolis Henry's Mai Ku Moua the city champ at singles and the Southwest duo of Abby Behl and Lydia Kelly.
In St. Paul, the epicenter of badminton, Harding, the epicenter of badminton in St.Paul, led the way with five AC players including state singles champ Pang Thao and the state doubles champion pair of Mai Tria Lee and KaaBao Yang.
There were five juniors out of the 11 spots in Minneapolis. Edison has three AC players returning, Henry 2.
In St. Paul, Harding looks well positioned to go for the trifecta again with 3 of the 4 AC players back. Add in a sophomore in the Honorable Mention category and things look up hill for the rest of the state.

Next up: Monday

Malaysian Open Withdrawls

#1 posting 6.14.2006

MALAYSIAN OPEN
The Danish doubles team withdrew from the Malaysian Open, and that may open the door for the Malayian doubles team of Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari-Lin Woon Fui. The Chinese team is in the other side of the brackets. Here is more from the Malaysian Star.

SWAZILAND TO BULGARIA
The Swaziland national badminton team will travel to Bulgaria for some training this August. This is in preparation for the African championships to be held in Nigeria in December. Here is what the Swazi Observer has to say.

Next up: tomorrow

South African Tournament

#1 posting 6.7.2006

SOUTH AFRICAN TOURNAMENT
Usually this blog has posted international events focusing on Asia, but Africa also has a large badminton following.
Swaziland is headed to South Africa for the SA International Touranment. The Swazi Oberver explains about the prep time.

INDIAN ACTION
The AG Uttar Pradesh team knocked off AG Punjab 3-2 in the North-Zone Audit and Accounts Badminton Tournament. The doubles pair of Deepak Saxana and Sanjeev Tiwari provided the winning edge. Story is from Ludhaina News in India.

Next up tomorrow with badminton happenings around the globe.

Singapore Open, Mann to retire

#1 posting 6.6.2006

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Spain will host the world championships in September. Here is how the Vietnamese team is getting ready. From Nhan Dan Sports.
English 8 time champion Julia Mann will retire after the world championships. She will be the French National coach after her playing days are done. Here is the BBC Sport story.

SINGAPORE OPEN
The doubles team of Lee Wan Wah/Choong Tan Fook will look to take their second title of the year in the Singapore Open. The Malaysian pair are seeded second in the tournament. Here is a lot more from the New Straits Times.

Next up: tomorrow

Hidayat Wins Title

#1 posting 6.4.2006

INDONESIAN OPEN
Taufik Hidayat won the Indonesian open men's title beating Bao Chun Lai of China 21-18, 21-19. This is Hidayat's sixth title in the Indonesian open. This article is from the Antara News.

INDIA SETS UP ACADEMY
The North East section of India has set up their own Badminton Academy. Top local talent is being coached by top level coaches. Need to read more? Here is the Zee News article.

Next up: tomorrow evening with another morsal or two.

How to Increase Badminton in Minnesota

#1 posting 6.3.2006

HOW TO INCREASE TEAMS IN MINNESOTA
With just 16 teams, badminton is a small sport. It definitely has the potential to be bigger. It is relatively inexpensive. Most schoools have PE equipment for badminton. There are no referee costs. How to increase to increase the schools that play?
1. An effort needs to reach out to the parents from neighboring school districts, and those districts with a large Asian population to get their parents to request teams. It is always more persuasive if the people making the request are from and vote in the school district. I am sure the Asian populations in Minneapolis and St. Paul have a network of people that would be willing to lobby on the sports behalf.
2. The coaches need to do outreach to the athletic community professionals in other districts--education, exhibition matches, maybe even some ad hoc scrimmages with club type teams.

Communities that may have a base of support would be schools in Apple Valley, North St. Paul, Woodbury, Roseville, Park Center, Brooklyn Center, Hopkins, Minnetonka, Bloomington, and Richfield for starters. Perhaps a private school or two could join the ranks.

With only two suburban schools on the court the time has come to get proactive. The big push now is for lacrosse, but badminton serves an underserved population.

Sorry I haven't been posting for a while.
I will try to keep a better schedule, even if it is a snippet.

Next: tomorrow late in the day.