KUWAIT CITY, Dec 19: “FBAA is branded by many as one of the most organized Badminton Clubs in Kuwait, mainly because of its highly dedicated and supportive officers and members,” these were the words of the Filipino Badminton Association of Ahmadi (FBAA) President Ronald Margate as he spoke at an FBAA 2011 Christmas party and Awards Ceremony organized at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Friday.
After welcome remarks and opening prayer by Ian Damasco and Chiara Julianne, Margate said in his opening speech that for the last five years FBAA has been providing games both at leisure time and tournament levels to promote the spirit of sportsmanship and fellowship among its members, adding that there could be exciting tournaments in the years to come. He also stated that FBAA is branded by many as one of the most organized Badminton clubs in Kuwait, mainly because they have very dedicated officers and supportive members who sometimes describe themselves as “Certified Addicts”.

FBAA President Ron Margate assisted by Vice-President Jerry Labagnoy presented plaques of appreciation to representatives of the 2011 Tournament’s main sponsors who included Abhay Chaturvedi, Sales Manager — Abdulhadi Al Mailem Trading Co (Al Mailem Tires) —Kuwait’s exclusive distributor of Hankook Tires, Toyo Tires, Goodyear Tires, Continental & Runway Tires, Martin Davis and Richard Ferfon, Project Director and Project Finance & Administrative Manager respectively of Worley Parsons Resources & Energy, Hamad Ghazi Al-Matar (Sr PR Executive) Wataniya Telecoms C/o Romeo Bolos, McDonalds-Kuwait represented by Elie Ghosn (HR & Admin Director) C/o Gerry Torio and George Khawam (Marketing Director) C/o Irwin Climaco, Western Union Money Transfer represented by Vangie Gernale, Mike Rosales, Joffrey Galvan, Bhasin Co & Max Canada represented by Prithu Bhasin (Business Development Manager) C/o Hans Ita-as, AMEC Natural Resources represented by Allan Armstrong (Country Manager ESM) C/o Mark Quesada as well as Metlife Alico represented by Alene Valencia (Financial Consultant) and Kris Clarinan (Financial Consultant).

Plaques of appreciation were also presented to a list of business entities who co-sponsored the 2011 FBAA tournaments who included SK Engineering & Construction represented by SK An — PCM Manager, Al-Maidan Dental Clinic represented by Bashar Ali Asad (General Manager), Ms Susan Santos, Al-Eshraf Bookstore, Pasta Mania, Midas Furniture, Future Services General Trading & Contracting Company and The Bridge General Trading & Contracting Company. Special contributors who were also acknowledged and awarded for their part played in the success of the 2011 Tournaments included Allen Miole, Ms. Maricel Romano, Romeo Bolos, Derick Blanco and ARAB TIMES newspaper for FBAA media coverage Arab Times represented by Lucy Cortezano.

Among the special awards dished out to deserving players and tournament organizers were the Good Sportsmanship Award given to players who conducted themselves within the limits of the golden rule of sports which expects players to demonstrate good sportsmanship by showing respect to self, teammates opponents as well as team officials, Most Improved Player Award given to players who have improved the most over 2011 tournament season as well as Loyalty Award given to all active players who have been playing in FBAA since 2006 & 2007 season.
Out-going executive 2011 Executive Committee members who were presented plaques included Gerry Torio — Internal Coordinator, Hans Ita-as — External Coordinator, Arjay Lesaca — Tournament Coordinator, Thess Herrera — Treasurer, Roxanne Cajipe Alonzo —Secretary, Gerry Labagnoy — Vice-President and Ron Margate — President.
Oath taking for incoming members of the 2012 tournament season included the following: Ryan Aguilar — Internal Affairs Director, Hans Ita-as-External Affairs Director, Arj Lesaca-Tournament Director, Thess Herera — Treasurer, Cathy Lesaca — Secretary, Norman Abad — Vice President and Ron Margate — President.

The 2011 Christmas party which was hosted by Ian Damasco & Cathy Lesaca and attended by players, tournament executives as well as sponsors, ended with a dinner and Raffle event with two Kodak Video cameras at stake donated by FBAA, one Toshiba High Definition (HD) video camera donated by Western Union Money Transfer as well as an Apple IPAD2 donated by Metlife Alico.
In his closing speech, Margate thanked members of the Executive Committee and their Sub-Committees for their valuable contributions leading to the success of FBAA tournaments for year 2011. While thanking all business entities whose sponsorships made the tournaments possible, Margate also revealed that there would be a two-day tournament to be held starting Jan 6, 2012 before the start of the first major tournament for the next season.