KUWAIT CITY, June 19: Indian Badminton Association in Kuwait (IBAK) has achieved a number of “firsts” since it was established over a year ago and this week it continued on the same path when it marked the end of its coaching camp called “Coaching Module 1” with a tournament involving all the trainees who had taken part in this coaching camp. The closing ceremonies saw prizes being presented to the winners of each category of the tournament while there were certificates to the trainees who took part in the camp, which ran from March to June this year, and a tournament was also held for children under 13 years as part of the closing ceremonies. The coaching camp was not a walk in the park as the training was tough with experienced players supervising the proceedings over three months, with the camp being held every week. The toughness of the course can be judged by the fact that 80 enrolled for the course but only 32 trainees were able to come out of it with success.

Abraham Kuriakose, a renowned state and national Indian player was the coach for the module. The parents found the coaching sessions useful and the results were there to see in the tournament because among the winners were three first time badminton trainees.
The organizers made a lot of arrangements with free transport being provided for the trainees who were drawn from all over Kuwait.The trainees included a Romanian (Alex) and all of them saw their basic skills improve. There was a lot of focus on fitness, which is the major problem with trainees in Kuwait.
Dr Manimara Chozhan, the Director of the module, noted that keenness to learn was missing among some of the trainees and stressed the need to concentrate on the same.

The IBAK coaching team included the following: Director – Dr.Manimara Chozhan, Assistant Director – Sunil Moorkanat, Module in-charge – Sibi Varkey, Chief Coach – Shyam Sadhwani, Moderator – Dr Vijay Shirhatti and Overseas Coach – Abraham Kuriakose (Roy). All of them deserve special praise for the effort in the molding of the trainees.
Coming back to the tournament proper, the event was held for 5 categories: Boys under 11 years, boys from 11-13 years, boys above 13 years, girls under 11 and girls above 11. Each class was divided into 2 groups – A and B. Each group played round robin and only two players were picked from each pool or the top 4 from both of them combined. In a single pool, the round robin saw only one game to 21 points and in case of a tie the walkover in between the matches scores was ignored. Some 42 trainees took part in the tournament.
The semifinals and finals were knockout matches involving best of 3 sets cross semi finals Group A vs Group B and in case of one pool it was Rank 1 vs Rank 4 and Rank 2 vs 3.

Girls Below 11 years
Niyati Pradeep completed the matches after playing well from the start to the finish and remained undefeated. There was doubt of her abilities when she took the highest honor in Girls below 11 years when she fought wisely to outlast Deyashini Mondal in 3 sets 10-21, 21-11, 21-16.
Meanwhile, the semi finals witnessed Niyate hammer Pearlene in back to back set 21-6, 21-6 while Deyashini brushed aside Niharika 21-7, 21-7.
The eliminations saw Niyati claim a landslide victory when she overwhelmed Pearlene 21-8 before taming Deyashini 21-18, beating Niharika 21-10, outlasting Persis 21-16 and hammering Vanya 21-8.
Deyashini gained 4 wins when she crushed Pearlene 21-3, thumped Niharika 21-10, thrashed Persis 21-3 and brushed aside Vanya 21-6.
Niharika acquired 3 victories when she routed Pearlene 21-13, overwhelmed Persis 21-14 and overcame Vanya 21-14.
Pearlene won two matches when she brushed aside Persis 21-16 and tamed Vanya 21-17.
Vanya did not go home empty handed when she overwhelmed Persis 21-16.

Standings
Rank Girls Below 11 yrs W L Pts
1 Niyati Pradeep 5 0 10
2 Deyashini Mondal 4 1 8
3 Niharika Sunil 3 2 6
4 Pearline Daruwalla 2 3 4
5 Vanya Srivastava 1 4 2
6 Persis Daruwalla 0 5 0

Girls Above 11 years
Nivedha Manimara Chozhan claimed the crown in the Girls above 11 years category when she displayed some real class to overpower Aafreen Arief (Sara) 21-14, 21-17.
The semifinals saw Nivedha brush aside Vishaka 21-10, 21-11 while Aafreen overcame Nida 22-20, 21-12.
Earlier in the eliminations, three girls had 3 wins and 1 loss each . Nivedha tamed Vishaka 21-17 , hammered Sasha 21-3 and overcame Nida 21-16.
Aafreen claimed her 3 win when she outlasted Nivedha 21-19, beat Vishaka 21-17 and overpowered Sasha 21-5.
Nida joined Nivedha and Aafreen with 3 wins when she brushed aside Vishaka 21-17, hammered Sasha 21-6 and fought for every point to edge Aafreen 23-22.
Vishaka did not go home empty handed when she wasted no time to beat Sasha 21-5.

Standings
Rank Girls Above 11 yrs W L Pts
1 Nivedha Manimara Chozhan 3 1 6
2 Aafreen Arief (Sara) 3 1 6
3 Nida Tanveer 3 1 6
4 Vishaka Baburaj 1 3 2
5 Sasha Ann Joshi 0 4 0

Boys Below 11 years
Sayooj Ajayakumar had a walk in the park to claim Boys below 11 years crown when he broke no sweat to beat Shiv Govind in the finals 21-4, 21-8.
On the other hand, the semifinals saw Shiv tame Mohammed Anzeem 21-8, 21-16 while Sayooj brushed aside Mohammad Jassim 21-4, 21-10.
The Cluster A eliminations witnessed Shiv score a total victory when he thumped Hans 21-3, overwhelmed Mohammad Anzeem 21-17, brush aside Vipul 21-8 and beat Samuel 21-12.
Mohammad bounced back and scored 3 wins by routing Hans 21-2, taming Vipul 21-11 and overcoming Samuel 21-12.
The rest of the players did not go home empty handed when Samuel brushed aside Vipul 21-12, Vipul tamed Hans 21-9 and Hans overwhelmed Samuel 21-12.

Standings
Rank Boys Below 11-A W L Pts

1 Shiv Govind 4 0 8
2 Mohammad Jassim 3 1 6
3 Samuel Sunil Philip Koleth 1 4 2
4 Vipul Choudhury 1 4 2
5 Hans Morrison 1 4 2
The Group B games saw Sayooj remain unbeaten when he thumped Daniel 21-7, overwhelmed Anirudh 21-7 and thumped Mohammed 21-9.
Mohammed scored two wins when he beat Daniel 21-9 and brushed aside Anirudh 21-7.
Daniel walked home with a single victory when he overpowered Anirudh 21-5.

Standings
Rank Boys Below 11-B W L Pts
1 Sayooj Ajayakumar 3 0 6
2 Mohammed Anzeem 2 1 4
3 Daniel Thomas Koleth 1 2 2
4 Anirudh Ssreekumar 0 3 0
Boys 11-13 years
Saikrishnan Ajaykumar walked home with championship title in Boys 11-13 years when he overcame Nithin S. Nair 22-20, 21-16.
Earlier in the semifinals, Nithin brushed aside Danish 21-16, 21-14 while Saikrishnan wasted no time to beat Kevin 21-2, 21-6.
The Cluster A elimination round witnessed Danish achieve a landslide victory when he edged Steve 22-20, doverwhelmed Kevin 21-13 and thumped Lenoy 21-8.
Kevin gained 2 wins when he first beat Steve 21-8 and then tamed Lenoy 21-5.
Steve walked home with one win when he hammered Lenoy 21-5.

Standings
Rank Boys 11-13 A W L Pts
1 Danish Contractor 3 0 6
2 Kevin Mathew 2 1 4
3 Steve Jacob Thomas 1 2 2
4 Lenoy Christy 0 3 0
The Group B elimination games saw Saikrishnan finish the games undefeated when he beat Nitin 21-10, brushed aside Nithin 21-7 and crushed Nash 21-0.
Nithin gained two wins when he first tamed Nitin 21-10 and then hammered Nash 21-1.
Nitin scored a single victory when he overwhelmed Nash 21-5.

Standings
Rank Boys 11-13 B W L Pts
1 Saikrishnan Ajaykumar 3 0 6
2 Nithin S. Nair 2 1 4
3 Nitin Prince 1 2 2
4 Nash Subash Vincent 0 3 0
Boys Above 13 years

Shyam Sundar displayed outstanding skills to rule the Boys above 13 category although it was not an easy match against Hemachandran which he won after an extension 22-20, 21-16.
Meanwhile,the semi finals witnessed Hemachandran move on to the finals when he overwhelmed Sai 21-13, 21-16 while Shyam broke no sweat to brush aside Rohit 21-3, 21-6.
Earlier in the elimination games of Group A, Hemachandran showed some real class when he scored landslide victories as he hammered Rohit 21-9, brushed aside Sudharshanan 21-8, overpowered Tushar 21-3 and overwhelmed Vineeth 21-8.
Rohit claimed 3 wins when he tamed Sudharshanan 21-6, beat Tushar 21-15 and overcame Vineet 21-18.
Vineeth scored two victories when he first thumped Sudharshanan 21-9 and then overwhelmed Tushar 21-12.
Tushar did not go empty handed when he hammered Sudharshanan 21-6.

Standings
Rank Boys Above 13-A W L Pts
1 Hemachandran 4 0 8
2 Rohit Anand Menon 3 1 6
3 Vineeth Baburaj 2 2 4
4 Tushar Abraham Joshi 1 3 2
5 Sudharshanan Ramanathan 0 4 0
The Cluster B elimination round saw Shyam display amazing skills when he completed his matches with an unbeaten run as he thumped Sai 21-9, beat Mohamed 21-3, thrashed Aravind 21-1 and crushed Rahul 21-4.
Sai gathered 3 wins when he tamed Mohamed 21-10, brushed aside Aravind 21-7 and outlasted Rahul 22-20.
Rahul accomplished two victories when he thumped Mohamed 21-11 and beat Aravind 21-8.
Mohamed walk home with a single victory when he overpowered Aravind 21-4.

Standings
Rank Boys 11-13-B W L Pts
1 Shyam Sundar 4 0 8
2 Sai Balagopal 3 1 6
3 Rahul Anand Menon 2 2 4
4 Mohamed Muzammil 1 3 2
5 Aravind Sreekumar 0 4 0

The organizers have announced that IBAK’s Coaching Module 2 will be held in the winter and will be segregated into beginners and advanced level coaching. IBAK thanks coach Roy for his dedication and all the efforts he made in molding the trainees of Module 1.IBAK also thanks MOASHK Securities and Investments co for their support. The T-shirts for the competition games were sponsored by Barath Nanda, IBAK member, on behalf of MOASHK Securities& Investments co, a Division of Mohammed Ashkanani International Group of Companies.

For details on the next module and all other programs of IBAK, inquiries can be sent to ibakchozhan@gmail.com