Iowa State Badminton Club members and badminton players from all over the Midwest competed in the 2014 Iowa Badminton Open in the Forker Building on March 29 and 30.

The competition brought badminton players from Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Kansas, Texas and even California to compete for prizes offered by YONEX, the tournament’s sponsor.

The tournament started at 8:45 a.m. March 29 and stopped for the day when all events reached the semifinal round. Play resumed at 9:00 a.m. March 30 until all the champions were decided.

The tournament had men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles and mixed doubles with four flights within each event. 

All winners in the top flights received professional rackets furnished by YONEX, winners in the second-highest flights won semi-professional YONEX rackets, players who won in the third-highest flights won YONEX badminton bags with assorted badminton equipment and winners in the lowest flights won YONEX drawstring bags with assorted equipment. The winners and runner-ups in all flights also received trophies.

Jinchen Fan, senior in marketing and the president of the ISU Badminton Club, said that 108 people showed up to compete in the tournament.

“It’s tiring, but it’s good to go out and play,” said Jared Szabo, one of the 15 people from the University of Iowa Badminton Club that competed in the tournament. “I’ve enjoyed this experience.”

Mark Davidson, an Ames community and ISU Badminton Club member, said that he came to the tournament to play in the men’s doubles event with his partner Yuheng Long, a graduate student in computer science.

Nha Bao, a student from Creighton University in Omaha, Neb. said that he competed in this tournament for the experience and has competed in several tournaments around Nebraska and Iowa.

Allison Doren and Cara Silverman, students from Washington University in St. Louis, Mo. have played in many badminton tournaments around the Midwest and heard about this tournament through Facebook. Silverman and Doren drove from their school to Ames the night before the tournament. Doren ended up finishing as the runner-up in the top flight for women’s singles.

“A lot of people know each other [at this tournament], it’s very close-knit,” said Karen Chin, a player who flew in from Dallas, Texas to compete in this tournament. Chin finished as the champion in the top flight for women’s singles.

“It’s pretty competitive and the standards were really high,” said Zie Chieh Chua, senior in mechanical engineering and the runner-up in the top flight for men’s singles. “I’m pretty exhausted.”

Anh Tuan Nguyen, a student from Des Moines Area Community College and the champion in the top flight for men’s singles said he felt lucky because many of the other people at the tournament were strong players. 

“It’s pretty nice that we have people around the Midwest, even people from California and Texas,” said Aaron Liao, graduate student in chemistry and runner-up in the third-highest flight for men’s singles. “We really appreciate it.”