JEDDAH: True to form, Smash Arabia Badminton Club, the badminton group famed for staging one of the biggest events in the Kingdom, unveiled its 6th Ultimate Badminton Challenge – The Battle for Badminton Supremacy during the Haj holidays at the 7th floor of Olympia Badminton Courts of Dr. Soliman Fakeeh Hospital here.

The tournament marked the return of Smash Arabia to the community sports scene after a one-year break.

The Wednesday opening ceremony was held before a packed crowd of hundreds badminton enthusiasts.

The program started with the entry of colors, led by Smash Arabia Chairman Bob Fernandez, followed by Philippine flag bearer Angelo Villanueva and Saudi Flag bearer Immanuel J. Maata along with the Smash Arabia Badminton Club members and the 26 participating teams.

Teams vied for the Best Mascot, Best Banner and Best Uniform awards. Jaguars Badminton Club won the awards for Best Mascot and Best in Uniform with Kamag-Anak (KINC) runner-up for Best Mascot. Runner-up for the Best in Uniform was Bibitss Badminton Camp while Phogi won the Best in Banner with Pinoy Badminton Barkada (PBB) as the runner-up. The judges include Jason Mojica of Quick Pay, Red Padua , BDO Marketing Officer; Anthony Pandio, Area Sales Distribution Executive, ABS CBN My Remit, Paul Antiporda, Mosaid Travel & Tourism Services, and Liza De Rojas, Art of Mark.

The teams entered in the three-day competition are as follows: ABC, ABC-Assir, ACE-Jeddah, ASEAN-PBC, Avocado, Badsminton, Bagetz-Riyadh, Battledores, Baddicts-Riyadh, Bibitss Badminton Camp, BIR-Riyadh, CRTC, D’Club Jaunty, Desert Falcons, D’Smaikers, Evenlode, FBB, FLEEQ, Fun, Hataw, Indo, INDP-Riyadh, IPBC, Jaguars, JBA, JBCR, Jeddah Club, Jeddah Royals, Jeddah Slashers, Jeddah Smashing Pirates, Jordan, KBC, KINC,MBA, Olympia, Pak Tigers, PBB, PBC-Riyadh, Phogi, Phombag-Riyadh, RBC-Assir, Red Sea Dragons, RESC-Riyadh, Riyadh Team, RSC-Riyadh, SABC-Riyadh, Shuttle Eagle, Smash Arabia, SSBC-Riyadh, Supremo, Syria and USC-Riyadh.

Riyadh is easily the biggest delegation from outside Jeddah with 80 players and 12 teams. Also, there were players from Jordan and Syria who joined the event to underline the popularity of Smash Arabia-organized tournaments.

The oath of sportsmanship was led by Princess de Silva. Matches followed the ceremony where song numbers were rendered to entertain the crowd.

A total of 25 games on opening day were played under the supervision of the technical team of Tem Hernandez, Alvin Cornejo, James Argonza and Noel Ramos. The first day hostilities ended well into the night with players and spectators all enjoying the actions.

NCB QuickPay is the major sponsor of the tournament. The other sponsors are BDO Remit, ABS-CBN E-money Plus, myREMIT-one, Salam Medical (Home Health Care), Mobil1, NEMER, Pepsi, Avon, WeSport, Mosaid Travel & Tourism, SUBWAY and Sunbutta Shuttlecocks & Apparels