All Badminton (In Madison)
is International
Often in a large ethnically diverse community, such as the University of Wisconsin, cultural enclaves develop which are difficult to diffuse. One then has ethnic wealth but unshared and isolated. Rivaled perhaps only by soccer, badminton succeeds in mixing up this diversity even at a local level. Brooks 6th annual tournament, this time titled “!Badminton!” was held at the University of Wisconsin on 6 April 1991 and drew among its 60 entrants, players from 7 foreign countries as well as 4 states.
From opposite sides of the globe, Edy Kuswatno, Indonesia, and Dan Krause, outstate Illinois, talked by the scorer’s table for a half hour after their first round match. Many regulars at the Brooks’ events were saddened to say good-bye to our long-time friends Duangkamol (Joy) Chartprasert and Anothai (Tony) Rattatangsi, both of whom are returning soon to their native Thailand after receiving their Ph.Ds. Joy and Tony played solidly into the Mixed finals, where they lost to last year’s champions, Danita Erickson and Paul Collier. Still, we had the chance to welcome Amresh Hanchate, from India, and Vladimir Rodionov, from Russia. Hanchate took the B Singles title, defeating George Bauer. Rodionov defeated players from India, Britain, and finally Kuswatno from Indonesia to take the A Singles title with a game of steady and indefatigable play.
A tournament which bills itself as “A chance to pick on someone your own size for a change,” and is designed to cater to badminton’s perpetual bottom feeders is likely to draw an interesting lot of competitors: recruited spouses (Dale Pinkowski), parents (David Collier), and children (Lachanna Kookasemkit and Esau Spicer); isolated out-back players (Kitti Kopp) from places like Black River Falls; untutored, quick-as-a-whisker players (Steve Engle); and hard-driving, competitive players who just aren’t very good (like myself). Unusual decisions have to be made to weed out the pros who wonder why they aren’t seeded first or haven’t played in the Bs since they were twelve. The rule of thumb followed by the selection committee was that any player who was modest enough to ask if they were “too good” to play in the tournament – wasn’t.
Limiting the draw to only 16 entrants per event makes for an easy tournament to organize with few of those vast empty time spaces often experienced by the lower level players at the big-time tournaments. Someone said, “Swiss trains and Brooks’ tournament are the only things that run on time.” While that is probably an overstatement, most seemed to enjoy their moments of glory off-off Chi-town. Barbara Levy, who must have had Chi-town in mind when she apologized about her level of play over the phone, drove in from Chicago with her partner Karen Kneuppel and didn’t stop until they had taken the Womens/Jrs doubles, after losing very close 3-game semis in the Singles. Kitti Kopp drove 150 miles from the other direction (“boondocks”) to win the Womens/Jrs singles and lose in the doubles final with her partner Holly Smith. Paul Collier came all the way from the Junior Nationals to avenge his loss last year in the Mens Doubles final. Along with Mark Hepworth (who could not defend his singles title because of a blister playing –tennis!) Paul had to go to three games to finish off Steve Engle and Chai Kookasemkit.
And in a personal up-date, Bauer and Chin took Coleman and Brenneis in the B doubles final: 18 years and counting to revenge.
!Badminton! 1991 Champions
Mens Singles
A Rodionov def. Kuswatno (12,8)
B Hanchate def. Bauer (1,4)
C Fabos def. Zimmerman (0,1)
D Krause def. Jennrich (9,8)
Womens/Jrs singles
A Kopp def. Mueller (3,3)
B Knueppel def. Levy (6,9)
C D. Hayes def. J. Hayes (9,6)
D Graves def. Spicer (2,1)
Mens Doubles
A Collier/Hepworth def. Engle/Kookasemkit (4-15,6,7)
B Bauer/Chin def. Coleman/Brenneis (7,11)
C Meier/Kania def. Melendrez/Adkins (10,7)
D Pinkowski/Zimmerman def. D. Collier/Bundy (10, 12-15, 8)
Womens/Jrs doubles
A Levy/Knueppel def. Kopp/Smith (10,6)
B Pinkowski/Chartprasert def. Slaughter/Erickson (7, 4-15, 9)
C Unat/Woodruff def. Shallcross/Bhave (3,2)
D Hayes/Hayes def. McNett/McConnell default
Mixed Doubles
A Collier/Erickson def. Rattarangsi/Chartprasert (6,1)
B Ehrhorn/Woodruff def. Pinkowski/Pinkowski default
C Tollefson/Simons def. Young/Smith (5-15, 11, 1)
D Zimmerman/D. Hayes def. D. Collier/Shallcross (8,7)