Junior badminton tournament a success
The Gippsland Junior Badminton Association (GJBA) organises badminton competition for juniors in the greater Gippsland area encompassing the Mid Gippsland Junior Badminton Association (MGJBA), Latrobe Valley Badminton Association (LV) junior players and Sale/Maffra junior players.
On Sunday, after a two year break due to covid, the GJBA ran its annual Individuals Tournament at Traralgon.
Though entries were a little down on previous years, the committee ran a great program giving all players under 19 years of age a chance to play badminton in a competition setting different to their usual competition.
The U11 and U13 girls combined play in the singles competition and the U11 winner was Nina Vanschyndel (MGJBA) and runner-up was Rosemaria Thomas (LV), while the U13 winner was Tresamaria Thomas (LV).
The U11 and U13 boys were also combined and the U11 winner was Jordy Stoiljkovic (LV), with runner-up Steve Jaisraj (LV).
The U13 boys winner was Shaven Rajapakse (LV) and runner-up Jim Thorne (MGJBA)
The U15 and U17 girls were combined and the U 15 winner was Natash Cook (LV) and the U17 winner was Ann-Maria Thomas (LV).
The U15 boys played with the largest entry of five competitors and the U15 winner was Roshan Josraj (LV), with the runner-up was Himesh Rajapakse (LV).
The U19 boys played with the winner being Stuart Ottrey (MGJBA) and the runner-up Aaron Remyn (MGJBA).
The singles tournament was followed by a team's event with players of all ages and associations divided into two teams. Three rounds of team games were played and the team with the highest number of aces were the winners. This competition was fierce with the end score differing by less than 20 aces between the two teams.
The winning team players were Staurt Ottrey, Paul Mawditt, Archer Thorne and Taj Goodrope from (MGJBA) and Roshan Josraj, Ann-Maria Thomas, Natasha Cook, Steve Jaisraj and Rosemaria Thomas from (LV).
A great day of badminton was had by all, and this is a prelude to the Badminton Victoria Junior Circuit Five, U12/U17 silver and U15 bronze, being played at Traralgon on Saturday September 3 and Sunday September 4 at the Gippsland Regional Indoor Sports Stadium in Traralgon.