Agape is champion of MS badminton

Agape Christian School was declared the middle school division champions of the TakeCare Insurance Interscholastic Badminton League 2023-2024 last Nov. 18 at the Gilbert C. Gymnasium.

ACS defeated Saipan International School in the finals after both teams topped their respective brackets. The former finished its bracket with a 31-14 win-loss, while the latter completed its bracket assignments with a slate of 41-4.

Initially, SIS tied with Hopwood Middle School 2 (41-19), but SIS won the tiebreak due to head-to-head record, as the Geckos beat the Hilitai in pool play, 10-5.

So as fate would have it, SIS went head-to-head versus Agape in the finals with Agape claiming the win for the girls singles, boys singles, and boys doubles.

Agape’s Joanna Zhang defeated Aubrey White, 21-9, 21-6; Daniel Yang defeated SIS’ Jude Rayphand, 21-8 and 21-12l; and Agape’s Daniel and Joseph Yang topped SIS’ Kanoa Owens and Jude Rayphand, 21-11.

SIS showed their determination on the court as well, securing a win in the women’s doubles, when Lina Tsukagoshi and Adelle Taflinger defeated Agape’s Joyce Ying and Kate Xu, 21-7, and Tsukagoshi and Michael Guintu defeated Agape’s Joseph Yang and Joanna Zhang, 21-20, 22-20, in the mixed doubles.

At the end, Agape took the championship trophy home with the score of 9-6.

When speaking to ACS administrator pastor Kok H. Pang, he thanked the organizing Northern Marianas Badminton Association, Take Care Insurance, and the Public School System for organizing and sponsoring the event, and for all the other schools who came to play.

“I think this was a short season and I’m glad our students are enjoying it. Well done to the organizers and the PSS Athletic Program and NMBA for organizing this. I also want to say thank you so much to the parents for letting their kids be a part of playing sports. And I want to thank God for giving us these talented students who want to get involved in sports, and their willingness to learn.”

He noted how the win was a welcome surprise for the Gualo Rai institution.

“When we first started we had no idea [we’d win] because we knew that SIS were the defending champions for the last two years and they were very strong in the women’s division. We were not sure whether we would qualify in the championship or not…” he said, adding that he was grateful.

He shared that in the coming years as they play more their team will only get better and that he looks forward to the growth of the NMBA and the sport overall.

“I see a lot of youngsters rising up,and they have a good program they can compete in games outside of our island. I think this is good for youngsters to be involved in sports. This will help them mentally and socially, and is great ground to work with people. The world is not getting better but we need to encourage one another in the end.”

In the battle for third, Hopwood Middle School beat Saipan Community School, 10-5.