The Auckland Malayali conducted its Annual Badminton tournament ‘SMASH 2018' on Saturday, July 21 at Li-Ning NZ Badminton Centre. The competition was embraced with great enthusiasm and excitement among the participants and audience alike in the community.
All the teams throughout the tournament exhibited terrific performances, and the number of participating teams grew exponentially with around 200 participants this year, which spoke volume of the success of the tournament.
The players pay a participation fee for each team and have a deadline to register their team so that participants from the wider Auckland Region as well as players from Hamilton & Whangarei can register in due time.
25 doubles and ten singles were conducted in six categories, and eight emerged victorious in these respective categories. The winners:
Mens Singles- Winner- Sharan Sushil
Mens Singles- Runner-up: Therattil Raphy Frijo
Mens Doubles 1st Division- Sharan Sushil & Therattil Raphy Frijo
Mens Doubles 1st Division- Libin Sibi & Kevin Cherian
Mens Doubles 2nd Division- Rishikesh Krishna & Cinto Jose
Mens Doubles 2nd Division- Bipin Thampi & Jeby Joseph
Auckland based Badminton player Anil Joseph who has years of experience in playing the game coordinated the tournament for Auckland Malayali Samajam Inc.
“Mr Anil Joseph is a highly efficient and effective Event Coordinator with a strong understanding of badminton. He was the coordinator for the last couple of years. He is one of the leading players in our local Badminton club named Auckland Malayali Badminton Club (AMBC),” vice-president of Auckland Malayali Samajam, Blessan M Jose told The Indian Weekender.
Sharan Sushil and TherattilRaphyFrijo were called the stars of the tournament as they were the winner and runners-up in the Mens Singles category and together were the winners in the Doubles category.
The pair has won several other titles in NZ including UABC Open, Hamilton Samajam, Wellington Malayali tournament etc.
“Both Sharan and Therattil are very active participants in various clubs across Auckland and Sharan is a former National University champion in India.
“Such sports events enables the development of discipline and resolve and also help in the overall development of a person. Furthermore, it gives the participants and their supporters a sense of community and fosters enduring friendship amongst one another,” Mr Jose added.