The Kason Tournament hosted by Racket Supply, held at SJSU, was another successful tournament for Bintang Team, even though all of the coaches except for Roxanne were away for another tournament. Results from the team as follows:BMS 2nd - Randy MaBMS semi's - Chetan PotuCMS 1st - Jack MaCMS 2nd - Gavin ChanCWS 1st - Priscilla LongCMD 2nd - Chetan Potu & Martin HungCWD Cons - Priscilla Long & Micaela Lum*CMX 1st - Phoebe Lin & Martin HungDMD 2nd - Brian Li & Jack MaDWD 1st - Priscilla Long & Micaela Lum*U15 BS 1st - Bryan ChowU15 BS Semi - Justin MaU15 BD Cons - Jordy Supandi & Eric CheungU15 MX Cons - Priscilla Long & Brian DuongU13 BS 1st - Brian DuongU13 GS Cons - Karen MaU11 BS 2nd - Bryce KanU11 BS Cons - Ethan LowU11 GS 1st - Karen MaU11 BD Semi - Bryce Kan & Ethan LowU11 GD 2nd - Karen Ma & Joanna Liu*U11 MX Cons - Karen Ma & Bryce KanThank you to Roxanne for all the time and effort spent coaching all the kids! Good job everyone -- keep training hard and raking in those trophies!
Love was surely in the air and in our hearts during Valentine's Day this year -- that is, love for badminton and love for winning!!! Team Bintang spent this holiday competing against the best juniors from across the country for the few select spots on the US Junior PanAm team. Held at OCBC, the Junior International Team Trials was a three-day affair full of intense games and many bittersweet victories. There was no question that our team was one of the strongest and most successful at JITT this year. With top players in every age category, we had many wins and secured many spots for the Junior PanAm competition held this summer. Though Coach and I were not there to watch in person, we literally checked TournamentSoftware every hour (or perhaps every 30 minutes?) for updates. And we were so excited with how well all of you performed. We sincerely thank Paula and Topher too for their dedication and commitment in coaching everyone at JITT and we extend our gratitude to all the coaches for their hard work throughout the year to get the kids this far.Good job to everyone -- we are very proud of you!Here is a list of our team's results:Under 11 Age CategoryU11BS 1st - Bryce KanU11GS 1st - Karen MaU11BD 1st - Bryce Kan & Bobby Huang*U11MX 1st - Bryce Kan & Karen MaU11MX 4th - Matthias Lai & Michelle Zhang*Under 13 Age CategoryU13BS 2nd - Brian DuongU13GS 2nd - Priscilla LongU13BD 1st - Brian Duong & Vinson Chiu*U13GD 1st - Priscilla Long & Micaela Lum*U13GD 2nd - Karen Ma & partner*U13MX 2nd - Brian Duong & Priscilla LongUnder 15 Age CategoryU15BS 3rd - Bryan ChowU15GS 1st - Christine YangU15BD 4th - Justin Ma & Christopher Li*U15MX 4th - Christine Yang & Ryan Chew*U15MX 5th - Hilary Lai & Bryan ChowUnder 17 Age CategoryU17BS 1st - Randy MaU17BS 2nd - Martin HungU17BS 3rd - Chetan PotuU17BS 5th - Daniel ChowU17GS 1st - Tiffany ChuaU17BD 3rd - Martin Hung & Chetan PotuU17GD 1st - Tiffany Chua & Christine Yang U17MX 4th - Gavin Chan & Tiffany Chua* denotes player from another clubFor full results, please check here.
Cal Badminton's Polar Bear Tournament was quite an experience! Our team was there early morning around 8am but many of our games were 3-4 hours delayed!!! So those who reached semi's and final's in their events were at the gym until 10pm. It was super hot and stuffy, and just...an unforgettable tournament for all the wrong reasons. :[Except however, our team performed phenomenally well and nearly swept singles, in true Bintang tradition. And this time around, we had some incredible wins in mixed and doubles as well. A big congrats goes out to all those who won and "great job" to everyone else. Many of you got very far in the draws and we noticed much improvement in many of you. Keep it up! Here is a list of the winners:AMS 2nd - TopherBMS 1st - Dominick LimBMS semi's - Martin HungBMS cons - Chetan PotuCMS 1st - Ryan KeCMS 2nd - Gavin ChanCMS semi's - Lawrence LukDMS 1st - Brian LiDMS 2nd - Bryan ChowDMS semi's - Stephen LeeDMS semi's - Dung BuiABWS 2nd - Stella ChunABWS semi's - Joyce LeeCWS 2nd - Priscilla LongCWS cons - Angela LinDWS 1st - Hensley EllefritzDWS semi's - Hilary LaiCMX 2nd - Tiffany Chua & Gavin ChanCMX semi's - Christine Yang & Ryan Chew*DMX 2nd - Hilary Lai & Bryan ChowAMD semi's - Minh & Ben Lee*AWD 1st - Paula & ChinBWD semi's - Christine Yang & Joyce LeeDMD cons - Bryan Chow & HinHin WongDWD 1st - Hilary Lai & Candy Zhang*For complete results, please check here.For photos from the tournament, please check Ryan Ngo's facebook album.
The team celebrated a belated Christmas and welcomed the new year with much spirit. Over sixty team members gathered at Bintang Sunnyvale for this occassion. After smaller teams were formed, each team designed a team flag and came up with a team name and motto. There were some very...interesting...ones, such as "Team Midgets", "Team Jacob", and "Crippled Penguins". The teams then challenged each other in a "How Well Do you Know Your Teammates and Coaches" trivia followed by a charades of New Year's Resolutions. The party wrapped up with the traditional create-your-own-lyrics to a Christmas song. There was a twist to this year's though -- each team had to randomly draw the name of one of the coaches and the lyrics had to be about that person! (Were there threats from some of the coaches that their kids would do bunny hops all practice long if the lyrics were not favorable?! :) The songs were very creative and the performance of the songs was undoubtedly entertaining. We weren't aware that so many of you have so much talent outside of badminton!The last and most awaited event of the night was the Secret Santa gift exchange. Coach Topher dressed up as Santa to hand out the presents. Some presents were big, some were small, some were heavy, some were light -- but regardless of the size and shape of the present, we all had fun and we all enjoyed being together in true Bintang fashion! We wish everyone the best 2010!For the full album of pictures from the party, click here.
The YOG Trials and U19JITT was held at GGBC Menlo over the Christmas and New Year holidays. Needless to say, the best U19 juniors from around the country all gathered to compete for the select spots on the US Junior Team. At the YOG trials, Charlie Yang managed to place third, which qualified him to participate in the PanAm YOG trial to be held in Peru. This was a huge win, as Charlie was competing against others who were mostly a year older than him. After two days of intense games for the YOG trials, a few Bintang team members marched back to compete in the U19JITT. This competition was to determine who would qualify to represent the US Team at the PanAm Junior Championships. Our Bintang players played hard and fought to the very last point. This time around, Charlie Yang rose to the occassion. And despite his fatigue from all the long games at YOG trials, he pushed himself in every game, never to split once with any of his competitors. Demonstrating true willpower and unparalleled spirit, Charlie won and became 2010's new U19JITT boys singles champion!We are very proud of his achievements and we look forward to his performance at the PanAm YOG, World Juniors, and PanAm Junior Championships later this year. Good job to Charlie and to all those who played.For full results of U19JITT, check here.
Held at OCBC as always, Winter Junior International Championships was an exciting and great learning experience for our team this year. There were many intense, three-set matches for our players against the international players, especially in the U17 and U19 categories. It just comes to show that the level of play of our team is slowly catching up to the level overseas. I did not have the fortune to be present at the tournament to watch all the games, but from what I heard and from what I saw on tournament software, it was surely a memorable tournament. Good job to everyone who participated! Here is a list of the wins:U9BS Semi's: Matthias LaiU9BD Semi's: Eric Duong & Matthias LaiU11GS Semi's: Karen MaU11MX Semi's: Karen Ma & Bryce KanU11GD 2nd: Karen Ma & Joanna Liu*U11BD Semi's: Bryce Kan & Ethan LowU13BS Semi's: Justin MaU13MX 1st: Justin Ma & Christine YangU13BD 2nd: Brian Duong & Vinson Chiu*U13GD 1st: Priscilla Long & Micaela Lum*U13GD Semi's: Hilary Lai & Candy Zhang*U15BS Semi's: Chetan PotuU15GS 2nd: Christine YangU15MX Semi's: Christine Yang & Ryan Chew*U15BD 2nd: Martin Hung & Chetan PotuU15BD Semi's: Ryan Ke & Gavin ChanU15GD 1st: Christine Yang & Cherie Chow*U17GS Semi's: Catherine Wu, Phoebe LinU17MX Cons: Catherine Wu & Jack MaU17BD Cons: Randy Ma & Charlie YangU17GD 1st: Phoebe Lin & Danae Long*U17GD 2nd: Catherine Wu & Adrianne Giuffre*U22MX Cons: Jason Guanlao & Joyce Lee* denotes player from another clubFor full results, please visit here.
This weekend started off like any other normal weekend -- the kids all trained and then some stayed to play open gym and so on. But in the background, there were some exciting events going on! Paula and a handful of kids (Tiffany, Troi, HinHin, Priscilla, and Christine) were involved in the making of a new badminton video organized by USA Badminton. The video aims to promote the sport by introducing the basics of badminton, including proper grip, stroke, footwork, etc., and was filmed at Moreau High School in Hayward. Thank you to Mr. Chua who helped get Bintang's coaches and kids to be a part of this production. We anxiously wait to see our Bintang stars in this!While the film was rolling on one side of the bay, there was no lack of action on the other side of the bay. Minh participated in the Affinity Open 2009 tournament. He had a stunning performance on Saturday, taking out the new Affinity coach in semifinals in straight sets and then also winning his finals match in straight sets! (Unfortunately, he slipped in his first game during semi-finals and twisted his ankle, but like any true athlete, he shook it off and pushed himself through. On Sunday, Minh and a sick :[ Coach Phu paired up to play doubles. They lost in semifinals in a very close and thrilling three set match. Thank you to all those who came out to watch and cheer!Good job to all of our pro players for their performance and for their efforts in pushing this sport that we all love, whether it be raising the bar of competition, helping to make a badminton video, or training our future stars!
The Kason Tournament hosted by Racket Supply, held at SJSU, was another successful tournament for Bintang Team, even though all of the coaches except for Roxanne were away for another tournament. Results from the team as follows:
