Two men's veteran events changed to FLEET Sabah Closed Badminton Tournament
KOTA KINABALU: The two men's veteran events at FLEET Sabah Closed Badminton Tournament have been revamped to complement the interest of the participating players.
The tournament organised by Sabah Badminton Association (SBA) in collaboration with Keningau District Badminton Association (Keningau BA) will take place at the Keningau Sports Complex from September 15-17.
President of SBA Janih Bangud said the two events to be contested were for veteran doubles with combined age of above 80 years (shuttler must be 40 years minimum) and for combined age above 90 years (no age limit).
"These two new events will replace the men's doubles for above 40 years and 50 years which were contested last year.
"The veteran events are a side competition in the tournament featuring the main events of men's and women's singles and doubles as well as the mixed doubles," he said yesterday.
Meanwhile, Janih acknowledged Keningau BA for agreeing to play host in the prestigious tournament under the SBA calendar.
Apart from that, the president also lauded badminton product brand FLEET for being the main sponsor of the tournament.
"Sponsor support is without doubt very important to promote and develop sports and hopefully such strong backing will help greatly towards producing world talents," he said.
According to Janih, the tournament is open to Malaysians who must have stayed in the state or FT Labuan for at least three months.
Shuttlers from other states who meet the tournament criteria must get consent letters from their places of origin and should they impressed and get selected, must represent Sabah for the next two years until 2019.
He also said that players must register with their own district association or Labuan Badminton Club and again, if one harbour hopes of representing other districts, they must get the necessary documents to support their intention.
Each district too are only allowed to enter a maximum of four entries per category except for shuttlers (including doubles player with the same partner) who made it into the Top 16 of the 2016 edition of the Sabah Closed.
SBA too will not enter players for any future national or international tournaments if they had registered but missed the Sabah Closed without valid reasons.
For further information and entry forms, contact the district association or SBA at 088-255193, email: sba1956@gmail.com, 0168107778 (Ting Ching Liong) or 0168805484 (Muhidin Mahali).