JEDDAH: Witnessed by hundreds of participants and spectators at the Olympia Sports Center Badminton Courts, the Jaguars Badminton Open 2014 Tournament officially kicked off recently.

Leo Tito Ausan, Jr., Consul General of the Consulate General of the Philippines, Jeddah, and Zaher, Human Resources Senior Manager of Bupa Arabia, attended the opening ceremonies. Sarawat Superstores’ Finance Manager, Bamousa, arrived later to watch the games.

Sarawat Superstores, one of the leading supermarket chains in Saudi Arabia, is the major sponsor of this annual tournament organized by the Jaguars Badminton Club. Other sponsors include: Alesayi Motors, Bupa Arabia, Solafah Alsharq Trading Company, Ltd, McDonalds, APSCO (Exxon Mobil), Skyfreight and New Cabalen Restaurant.

The opening ceremonies commenced as participating clubs and players, attired in colorful uniforms, paraded through the balloon-decorated badminton courts. Jaguars Badminton Club officials, headed by Chairman Gerry Rabang and its members were the last one to march in the arena.

After the singing of the Saudi and Philippine national anthems, Gerry Rabang welcomed the special guests, sponsor representatives, club chairpersons, participants and guests and relayed his gratitude to them. He especially thanked the major and minor sponsors and all the participants and then expressed his appreciation to his club co-officers and members for their full dedication and commitment.

Zaher of Bupa Arabia, in his inspirational talk, expressed his surprise to watch a highly attended sports event and thanked everyone for their support.

Leo Ausan, Jr. then delivered his message, thanking Jaguars Badminton Club for continuing to organize such worthy tournaments, and also conveyed his appreciation and gratitude to the sponsors and the participants for their support. He then reminded his co-Filipinos, in preparation for the national elections, to spare some time to visit the Jeddah Consulate office for the Absentee Voting registration.

Participating clubs in this year’s tournament are Avocado, Battledores, Beaufort, Desert Falcons, Elite BC, Faisalliance, FLEEQ, FBB, Hataw, IBC, Indian Tigers, Jaunty, JBC, Jeddah Green, KAIA, KINC, Malabar, MBA, MBC, Pak Tigers, PBB, PHOG, Pak Tigers, Red Sea Dragons, Shuttle Eagles, Slashers, Smaikers New Gen, Smash Arabia, Fun Badminton Club from the Eastern Region and some independent players It was a close contest for the ‘Best in Team Uniform” as many clubs donned striking colors and designs of their uniforms. The award was ultimately won by Smash Arabia while second place went to Desert Falcons and third place to KBC. The “Best Team Banner” was also won by Smash Arabia. All special award winners received trophies and Sarawat vouchers.

Khyle Acosta of FLEEQ led the players’ oath of sportsmanship and after the ceremonial serve by the guests of honor, Technical Head Rupertson Ng of Jaguars declared the tournament open.

Photography group Pinoy Tambayan took care of photography during the ceremonies and the games proper.

The master of ceremonies of the event was Jaguars’ Secretary Michael Ranir Martin while members of GANAP served as tournament marshals.