KUWAIT CITY, June 26: With the coaching camp out of the way with last week’s closing ceremonies, Indian Badminton Association in Kuwait (IBAK) got back to holding their tournaments with the start of the IBAK Summer Smash Tourney at the Saad Al Awzi School in Salwa Friday. 
Although a large number of the IBAK members and their families are out on summer holidays with the closing of schools, the event has still attracted a substantial amount of interest with those remaining in the country for the hot summer keen to maintain their fitness.
IBAK has once again decided to adopt the “ tier system” for this tournament with all the players who are taking part in this tournament being classified into different categories based on their experience and skills as well as previous playing experience at different levels i.e., representation of clubs/schools/districts/national and winners of awards in their categories. 
On the first day of the event four tiers were seen in action: Blue Tier ( the senior most), Red Tier (which has been divided into two groups due to the large number of participants ), Green Tier and Yellow Tier. The last two have been combined into one category for this event. 
Pairs winning their matches in two sets are awarded three points while in the matches which are stretched to three sets the winners go home with two points while the losers are also awarded one point for their efforts. 
Yellow Tier: For all beginners — children, ladies or men. 
Green Tier: This category is based on players who have been playing badminton continuously for more than 2 years in the recent past, having developed the basic skills of the game and well versed in the rules and regulations of the game. 
Red Tier: This group involves players of the intermediate level category, who have improved their playing skills and have taken part in open competitions in similar categories and achieved success in various events . 
Blue Tier: This category has players who have been playing badminton at a professional level and have represented their clubs, schools, districts, state, country at a top level and won awards in the open/top categories of the same. 
Tier advancement : Any player can advance from one tier to a higher one based on a successful performance in their current tier but after passing an assessment by competent personnel as identified by IBAK. 
Tournament proper 
With a limited number of players seen in action on the first day in the Blue Tier as all the pairs played only one match each, the focus of the event was on the Red Tier which continues to draw the maximum interest. 

In the Red Tier, all the players in both the sections of the category saw action at least twice with some of them taking to the courts event three times. 
At the end of the day’s play, Aravind and Ronnie were at the top in Red Tier A after winning both their matches while in Red Tier B Biju C and Suresh were dominating the proceedings although they had played two matches more than the pair on their trail. 
In the joint Green /Yellow Tier category, Numan and Steeve were the best so far after having won both their matches – one in two sets and the other in three – with five points. Another pair,Ashir and Sayooj, were also undefeated in their two matches but they earned only four points for their efforts because their opponents took a point off them in each game after stretching them to three sets.  
 Blue Tier  
There were only three matches on the first day of action in the Blue Tier but all of them provided a treat for the spectators as the games were stretched to three sets as the competitors put in their best in a bid to start the tournament on a strong footing. 
The first game saw Mathew and Saju edge Mohan and Lekha 21-15, 11-21, 21-19 but not until they survived a scare.Mathew and Saju took the first set easily and must have been expecting a similar result in the second but they were in for a surprise because Mohan and Lekha were in no mood to go down tamely. The latter put in an excellent performance to rout Mathew and Saju in the second set while giving away only 11 points to level the match and set up a mouth-watering third set. 
The third set was evenly fought with neither side giving anything away.It took a lot of determination and skills to keep their opponents at bay before Mathew and Saju triumphed by two points only to take both the set and the match. Nothing should be taken away from Mohan and Lekha as they fought their hearts out as they came back into the match after being a set down to put in a spirited performance. 
The second game saw the first set not really tell the quality of the winners as Chandra and Anil crushed Pushkar and Srikumar in the last two sets after losing the first for a 22-23, 21-12, 21-11 victory. 
It looked the match would be evenly fought as the game went into a tie-breaker in the first set before Pushkar and Srikumar triumphed to take a 1-0 lead.What happened in the next two sets was simply unbelievable as Chandra and Anil showed they meant business with easy victories in the second and third sets while giving away 12 and 11 points respectively. 
The third game also saw a lot of action as Faheem and Noor easily lost the first set but put up a real fight in the next two to beat Sunil and Manu 13-21, 21-17, 22-20. 
With an easy win in the first set, it looked like Sunil and Manu would away with the match but Faheem and Noor had other ideas as they fought back into the game. The second set victory for Faheem was a close fight but nothing compared to the third set as both the pairs were level 1-1 and neither side was willing to give anything away. 
Sunil and Manu fought really hard but in the end they succumbed to the pressure exerted by Faheem and Noor who took the match after prevaili8ng in the tie-beaker. 

Initial Standings
Rank Blue Tier Pl W L Pts
1. Mathew/Saju 1 1 0 2
2. Chandra/Anil 1 1 0 2
3. Faheem/Noor 1 1 0 2
4. Mohan/Lekha 1 0 1 1
5. Pushkar/Srikumar 1 0 1 1
6. Sunil/Manu 1 0 1 1 
Red Tier  
In Red Tier Cluster A, Aravind and Ronnie led the category with two straight victories but they found the going easy as they took both the matches in two sets each and were only stretched in only one of the four sets that they were on the courts that day. 
Aravind and Ronnie started off by hammering Bharani and Santhosh 21-12, 21-11 in their first match and things couldn’t have been easier until they ran into a tough first set before they could brush aside Jimmy and Sudhakar in the second for a 21-19, 21-14 victory. 
Although Bharani and Santhosh lost their first match easily, they were involved in a very exciting match when they took to the courts again.They showed a lot of determination and skills to hold off Shyam and Prasad before winning 23-21, 23-22 in two sets.Although it was a two-set victory for Bharani and Santhosh. Shyam and Prasad acquitted themselves in a game which could have gone either way. 
After putting in an excellent performance although they finished on the losing end, Shyam and Prasad did not go home empty handed but they were again involved in a very close and exciting match before they could edge Jimmy and Sudhakar 22-20, 21-17, 21-18. 

Initial Standings
Rank Red Tier A Pl Pts
1 Aravind / Ronnie 2 6
2 Bharani / Santhosh 2 3
3 Shyam / Prasad 2 2
4 Jimmy / Sudhakar 2 1 
Red Tier Cluster B saw Biju C and Suresh blend well on the courts and win twice in four matches to go to the top of the standings and they were not stretched in either match they won .They also had two defeats in other two matches but they were lucky to collect one point from each of these matches as these games went to three sets for a total of eight points.
Sajith and Nanda were involved in a tough match but they fought wisely and outlasted Biju C and Suresh 8-21, 21-17, 21-18 but they were made to fight hard after they lost the first set and being stretched in the next two.Biju C and Suresh got their revenge when they faced the same pair to collect three points with a 21-8 21-17 victory.  
The tandem of Biju C and Suresh also fought hard in their next match and got the maximum three points when they defeated Morisson and Ajay in back to back sets 21-17, 21-17. 
It seemed that Unnikrishnan and Ashlin were in a mood to show any mercy to their opponents when they thumped Morrison and Ajay 21-13, 21-10 in their match without breaking any sweat. If they were miserly in giving away points in the first game, the second match saw them demolish Tom and Oomen 21-4 in the first set before taking their foot off the accelerator to take the second set 21-12 and with it the match. 
In the other matches, Morrison and Ajay bounced back to edge Biju C and Suresh 17-21, 21-16, 21-19 in their next game to collect two points while Tom and Oomen did not go home empty -handed when they thrashed Sajith and Nanda 21-6, 21-13 to collect two points for a total of three points in their three matches. 
Initial Standings
Rank Red Tier B Pl Pts
1 Biju C / Suresh 4 8
2. Unnikrishnan / Ashlin 2 6
3. Sajith / Nanda 3 5
4 Tom / Oommen 2 3
5 Morrison / Ajay 3 2 

Green/Yellow Tier 
Numan and Steeve collected five points from their two matches to go to the top of the standings.In the first game, they earned three points because they took only two sets to beat Srini and Satish 21-12, 23-22. Later that day, Numan and Steeve collected another two points when they outlasted Prince and Praveen 7-21, 21-18, 21-15. 
Ashir and Sayooj were also doing well as they collected four points from their two matches as they were taken to three sets in both the games. In the first they outlasted Prince and Praveen 21-18, 18-21, 21-17 and in the second Ashir and Sayooj again found the going tough before they could edge Pramod and Shaina 21-19, 17-21, 21-19.  
Pramod and Shaina collected the maximum three points when they thumped Sai Krishna and Rani 21-11, 21-17 for a total of four points and a share of second place. 
In the other matches, Danish and Liz pressed on the accelerator in the last two sets to edge Clara and Ainsley 13-21, 21-16, 23-21 while Srini and Satish did not go home empty handed when they overwhelmed Sai Krishna and Rani 21-19, 21-16.

Initial Standings
Rank Green/Yellow Pl W L Pts
1. Numan/ Steeve 2 2 0 5
2. Ashir/ Sayooj 2 2 0 4
3. Pramod/ Shaina 2 1 1 4
4. Srini / Satish 2 1 1 3
5. Danish/ Liz 1 1 0 2
6. Prince /Praveen 2 0 2 2
7. Clara/ Ainsley 1 0 1 1
8. Sai Krishna/ Rani 2 0 2 0 
The organizers last week announced that IBAK’s Coaching Module 2 will be held in the winter and will be segregated into beginners and advanced level coaching. 
For details on all other programs of IBAK, inquiries can be sent to ibakchozhan@gmail.com