| Fadhil Yunus |
THE Japan para-badminton team will be making a special appearance on the final day of the Brunei National Badminton Tournament 2018 “Sport for Tomorrow Cup” at the Indoor Stadium of the Hassanal Bolkiah National Sports Complex tomorrow.
The team will be headlined by Mamiko Toyoda, who recently won the women’s singles of the BWF Spanish Para-Badminton International 2018 as the top seed.
Toyoda, who is an emerging Tokyo Paralympic idol, also clinched the women’s singles title at the USA Para Badminton International Tournament last year.
Toyoda also bagged two bronze medals in the women’s singles and women’s doubles in the 2017 BWF Para-Badminton World Championships in Ulsan, Korea.
She will be joined by her compatriot Akiko Sugino, the second seed at the championship in Spain, whom she defeated in the final.
Sugino also specialises in the women’s doubles and her major achievement to date included winning the women’s doubles in the BWF Para Badminton World Championship in Korea.
The team also featured the experienced Murayama Hiroshi and Ohe Mamoru led by the president of the Japan Para Badminton Federation Hirano Kazumi and head coach Kita Tsutomu.
The attendance of the Japan para badminton team is hoped to encourage involvement and serve as motivation for the Brunei para-badminton players.
With regards to the Brunei National Badminton Tournament, players’ seedings will provide an indication of their current status and how the ranking system can benefit in moving towards the right direction, according to one of the organisers.
Hiroshi Okouchi, the Commissioner of International Affairs at the Japan Para-Badminton Federation, underlined the connection between the ranking system that has already been put in place and the tournament whereby top players can be identified.
“We introduce the Brunei National Badminton Tournament 2018 and this programme is jointly organised by the Brunei National Badminton Association and the Japan Para-Badminton Federation,” said Okouchi in an interview with the Bulletin.
The establishment of a national ranking system will crucially help distinguish who currently makes up the top half of the rankings in setting the standard of badminton in the country.
“This purpose is to provide Brunei national players more motivation to play badminton. We also adopted the ranking system,” he said.
The ranking system, which is applied in the singles’ and doubles’ events for both men and women, will allow opportunities for national level players to climb as high as possible in the rankings.
“We want to show who the top players are in this tournament. This is done to encourage the players where they are now, and the next step is going as far as they can in the rankings.
“This is the system to make sure that there are more players and this is why we help the Brunei National Badminton Association and collaborate with them in a national programme.”
According to Okouchi, Jaspar Yu Woon Cai, who became the first badminton athlete to represent Brunei Darussalam at the Rio Olympics, is the country’s top ranked player while Ahmad Mahyuddin bin Haji Abas holds the title as Brunei No 2.
He also confirmed that Japanese stars Toyoda and Sugino will be paired together to play the newly crowned winners of the women’s doubles at the Brunei National Badminton Tournament in an exhibition match on Sunday.
Toyoda bested Sugino in an all-Japanese affair in the women’s singles SU5 (Standing Upper) event in Spain earlier this month.
“On the final day of the tournament, there will be an exhibition match where a Brunei para-badminton player will be paired up in a mixed doubles match with a Japanese player,” Okouchi added.
Sport for Tomorrow is an international contribution through sport initiative jointly implemented by public and private sectors, which promotes sport to more than 10 million people in over 100 nations until 2020, the year when Tokyo will host the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games.