SEAMEO BIOTROP hosted the first inter-SEAMEO Centre Badminton Tournament in Indonesia which was held on 25-26 June 2018 at Sukasari Sport Centre in Bogor as a part of the Centre’s Golden anniversary celebration. The tournament was aimed at improving relationship and promoting sports as a social and healthy activity among staff members of the seven SEAMEO Centres in Indonesia.

In opening the tournament, SEAMEO BIOTROP Deputy Director for Program Dr Jess Fernandez encouraged the tournament athletes and supporters to find time to socialize with each other beside playing their best and enjoying the games. He added that tournaments like this among the Centres are needed to invigorate minds and bodies of the staff toward improving work productivity.

With the theme “Be the best in the spirit of sportsmanship and togetherness, ”the tournament was participated in by 79 athletes from SEAMEO BIOTROP, SEAMEO CECCEP, SEAMEO QITEP in Science, SEAMEO QITEP in Language, SEAMEO SEAMOLEC, and SEAMEO RECFON. SEAMEO QITEP in Mathematics was not able to join. The tournament was played in doubles event for both men’s and women’s categories. SEAMEO BIOTROP and SEAMEO SEAMOLEC fielded in two men’s teams to make up four teams for groups A and B each. In the women’s category, staff members were combined to form three groups due to inadequate number of players.

SEAMEO QITEP in Science bested other teams in the men’s category by defeating SEAMOLEC A during the finals. SEAMOLEC A landed in second place while SEAMEO QITEP in Language and SEAMEO BIOTROP B teams tied for third place. In the women’s category, Group B, consisting of players from BIOTROP, SEAMOLEC and RECFON, became the first place winners by beating Group C, consisting of players from RECFON, BIOTROP, SEAMOLEC and SEAQIS. The third place went to Grop A with players coming from RECFON, SEAQIS and CECCEP.

Based on points accumulated, SEAMEO QITEP in Science emerged as the overall tournament champion.

Mr. Nova Susanto from SEAMOLEC and Ms. Nijma Nurfadila from BIOTROP were recognized as the best male and female player, respectively. SEAMEO RECFON received an special award as the Best Team Supporter.

This tournament also featured Mr. Tri Kusharjanto, a former national badminton player and a silver medalist at the Seoul Olympics, to share his experiences in badminton tournaments at national and world levels as well as to give some badminton techniques to the participants. Mr. Tri also gave friendly matches with some of the Centre athletes before the official matches were played.

During the closing program, SEAMEO BIOTROP Director Dr Irdika Mansur thanked all the SEAMEO Centres in Indonesia in supporting the tournament as part of the Centre’s golden anniversary celebration. He said that SEAMEO BIOTROP is more than willing to host other more sporting events in the future. He hoped that the badminton tournament would become a regular annual activity among the SEAMEO Centres in Indonesia.

As the reigning champion, SEAMEO QITEP in Science will host the tournament next year in Bandung.