NMI claims 3 silvers in Guam-PH Badminton Challenge

The NMI’s badminton team bagged three silver medals in the 2024 Guam-Philippines Badminton Invitational Challenge that was held last from Friday to Sunday at the Guam Badminton Sports Center.

Badminton players from Guam, the CNMI, and the Philippines stormed the badminton courts during the weekend with three silver medals for Team NMI—one in the open mixed doubles, open women’s doubles, and U15 mixed doubles.

In the open mixed doubles, veteran badminton players Nate Guerrero and Janelle Pangilinan was the duo to be reckoned with, but settled for silver in a three-set matchup against Guam’s Russel Enriquez and the Philippines’ Jenny Wang, 21-14, 19-21, 17-21.

For the open women’s doubles, Pangilinan teamed up with Shaina Malonzo and clinched silver after their match against formidable foes, the Philippines’ Queenie Yason and Ghiselle Bautista, 14-21, 8-21.

In the U15 mixed doubles, Lina Tsukagoshi paired up with Guam’s Philip Noret, and stumbled in a three-set matchup against Guam’s duo of Johnson Xia and Offeia Yordi.

For their effort and performance on the court, Pangilinan was awarded the best player in the open women’s doubles division, while Tsukagoshi was the best player for the U15 division.

Guerrero, when asked about the competition, said that it was okay. “We obviously didn’t get the results we wanted, but you either win or you learn, and we definitely will learn from this loss. It’s a part of the game, we’ll definitely grow from here,” he said.

About their foes in the open mixed doubles, Guerrero said that both Enriquez and Wang played a good game and were the better team that day.s

As far as the tournament as a whole, Guerrero said, “it was a really good tournament, everyone was very happy we were there and were very accommodating. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and it was really nice to also play with great players from the Philippines and always a good time playing with our brothers and sisters from our neighboring island of Guam.”

For Tsukagoshi on winning the best player award, she said it felt “really good.” She added, “The trophy looks very nice and I am happy to be the one having it.”

Even as she said the venue layout was a little weird for her, she still thought the competition was great.

Tsukagoshi is also a tennis player and right after her competition in Guam, rushed to the American Memorial Park tennis courts when she landed last Monday to play in the North Pacific Regional Championships.

She won her first game but said she didn’t play well because she was “super tired.”

“Going back and forth between badminton and tennis is really difficult because I always have to stress on managing my time if my tennis and badminton schedule collides,” said Tsukagoshi when asked how it felt to play both tennis and badminton.