CONTROVERSY marred a badminton competition in Baybay City after organizers are accused of manipulating the tournament mechanics to sabotage the chances of the Ormoc team of winning the championship title. The team has sought the assistance of Councilor Ruben R. Capahi, chairman of the Ormoc City Sports Council, as a prelude to filing a formal protest against game organizers.
Under protest is the Summer Smash Badminton Tournament organized by the Hapakers Badminton Club of Baybay. The tourney had three events: Team Event, Age Group for children 12 years old and under, and Open Tournament. The Ormoc team joined the Team Event along with five other teams. The games were scheduled to be played for four consecutive Saturdays starting Mar. 26 to Apr. 15 but the Ormoc team was only able to play beginning the second Saturday on Apr. 2. Despite this setback, it was able to play 15 matches against Leyte Sports Academy (LSA), Salchem and SC Coco Global in all categories and earned 44 points that day.
On Apr. 9 the team played five matches against Baybay Photographers Society (BPS) while all scheduled games against Bayantel were declared wins by default in Ormoc’s favor after the Bayantel team did not show up. With the point system in effect, the Ormoc team finished first n the elimination round with 77 points followed by LSA’s 65 points.
A championship match was set between the top two finishers in Apr. 15. The Ormoc team arrived at Baybay National High School, the tournament site, before 6:00 am on the scheduled date but it was only after the awarding ceremonies for the Age Group and Open Tournament categories that they were informed that the Team Event category was dissolved.
Sought for an explanation, tournament Manager Peter Luke Valenzona cited the following reasons why the Team Event category was incontestably dissolved:
- Ormoc team’s entry was forfeited because of late payment of registration fee;
- SC Coco Global and BPS withdrew their registration fees;
- As a result of the withdrawal of registration payments, organizers were left with no budget for cash prizes;
- The number of Ormoc team’s members was protested considering the tournament rules state that each team should be composed of five players at most but Ormoc fielded 10.
Judith F. Paredes who stands as the team’s spokesperson disputes Valenzona’s assertions. According to her, if Ormoc team’s payment of registration was that late, the organizers shouldn’t have accepted their registration fee and issued a receipt, much less allowed them to play in the tournament.
The withdrawal of registration fees by SC Coco Global and BPS are also irrelevant considering the two teams have already been eliminated. Paredes finds the “no budget” reason lame considering the tournament was sponsored by Gov. Carlos Jericho L. Petilla, Rep. Jose Carlos L. Cari, Mayor Carmen L. Cari and LSA.
As to the supposed protest on the number of players, Paredes said this has already been settled, otherwise their team wouldn’t have been allowed to play. Besides, the Ormoc team also questioned LSA’s inclusion in the Team Event which is supposed to be for corporate teams only, but they eventually dropped it. LSA consists of high school varsity players under the Leyte division of Department of Education.
Another act by the organizers which the Ormoc team considers as done in bad faith was the refund of their registration fee behind their back to their sponsor, Badminton City, even if it was the players who handed over the money and received the receipt thereof. Moreover, the organizers returned only P1,300 out of the P2,000 registration fee paid.
The Ormoc team members sees the development as a concerted effort to rob them of the opportunity to win the title considering the organizers themselves have a stake on the losing teams. Valenzona is the coach of LSA while the president of Hapakers Club, Emmanuel S. Licup, is the manager of SC Coco Global which lost in the elimination round.
(West Leyte Weekly Express issue of Apr. 18-24, 2011)
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