International badminton has returned to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) this week, three months after Super Typhoon Sinlaku devastated the US territory.
Oceania Badminton has confirmed that over 200 players and officials from 20 countries are in Saipan to compete in the Northern Marianas Open and the Saipan International tournaments.
The tournaments, which is the first international sports event in the CNMI since Typhoon Sinlaku hit the islands, started on Tuesday and runs for the rest of the week.
Northern Marianas Sports Association president Jerry Tan said the Northern Marianas (NMI) Badminton team has put in a lot of hard work.
“It is hard to believe sitting here today that we are about to start the tournaments tomorrow,” he said on Monday.
“What you see today is not what we saw even two weeks ago. The Northern Marianas Badminton team has put in a lot of hard work to make this happen.”
NMI team member Genelyn Lansangan said having the tournament a few months after the typhoon shows a lot of positives within the NMI.
“To represent the NMI, despite everything that we went through, shows that we, the people of NMI, are resilient, and that we are here to do our best and represent the flag with pride.”
Sinlaku damaged Saipan’s critical infrastructure and left many residents without power for weeks.
Two weeks ago, a second typhoon hit the islands, undoing much of the recovery work already done, and throwing the future of the tournament into disarray.
But the Northern Marianas Badminton Association, working alongside local and federal partners, worked overtime to get the tournaments happening.
First day
The Northern Marianas Open kicked off at the Gilbert C Ada Gymnasium, with some marathon matches on Tuesday.
In the men’s singles, local players Jude Mallari and Evan Seguritan both secured their spots in the main draw.
New Zealand doubles player Raphael Deloy played his first international singles match since the 2025 edition of the Oceania Championships and dominated against Venezuela’s Zikuanxi Yang.
The Kiwi booked his spot in the next round with a 21-13, 21-9 win.
“I’m pretty happy with my performance, playing singles is a bit difficult as I’ve been playing doubles a lot,” Deloy told Oceania Badminton media.
“It’s quite exhausting as there’s a lot more court coverage to cover. A lot of the time when I’m playing, it’s mostly drives and flat shots instead of the slower game. I have to play so differently, I think it will take some time to adjust.”
Australia’s Ephraim Stephen Sam lost to Norway’s Markus Barth, 21-16, 16-21, 21-16.
In the women’s competition, top seed, American Ella Lin comfortably progressed to the next round with a decisive win over India’s Naishaa Kaur Bhatoye.
Lina Tsukagoshi (NMI) and Haoxuan Xia (NZL) are the only Oceania singles players to continue their tournament campaign.
