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Marblehead Youth Badminton
in Massachusetts offered a scene of great excitement, enthusiasm and triumph as
it hosted this year’s Junior National Badminton Tournament. From June 28
through July 2, the tournament brought together 193 players from 11 states,
competing in every age group from under-9 to under-22. The East Region was well
represented, with 62 players from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and
Massachusetts. Photos of the tournament are available online courtesy of the
Lai brothers, at
http://www.photoecoz.com/group_gallery/31/, and an article appeared in the
Boston Globe. Notably, more players from Region 1 are winning medals, and more 3-game matches
are pushing the competition with the dominant California clubs. The following
Region 1 juniors were medalists: Allison Bachner (3, 4), Jenn Bachner (3, 4),
Daniel Berdichevsky (4), Christina Bohr (3, 3, 4), Eliot Bohr (2, 5), Kenneth
Bohr (5), Doria Chen (3), Alex Cheng (3), Lee Chern (3, 5), Daniel Cheung (4),
Nicole Frevold (4, 5), Zandra Ho (1, 3, 5, 5), Bobby Huang (2, 4), Caroline
Kliss (4), Kyle Kliss (3), Kimberly Kramer (2, 2, 3), Rachel Liao (1, 4),
Phyllis Lin (3), Austin Liou (4, 5), Piper Newhall (5), Christopher Peake (4),
Jen Perry (2, 5), Bertha Rakhunov (4), Emily Schwartz (2), Alan Shekhtman (3,
4), James Sullivan (3, 5), Peter Waller (5), Elena Yang (3), and Eric You (4, 4,
4).
The Debbie Brown award, one given annually to a particularly notable badminton
parent, this year went to Yvonne Chern of the Maugus club in Massachusetts.The tournament was marked by some coaching news, sad and glad: Melinda
Keszthelyi, whose playing and coaching career has been a source of great pride
to the East Region, is leaving to return to Hungary. We hope to lure her back
in the future. Khan Bob Malaythong, originally an East Region player, is
currently headed for the Olympics, and will subsequently be coach in
Marblehead. Bob has a new website at
www.thefirstlao.com. |
