Beware of sandbagging pros

My partner and I had a very unfortunate experience of being unfairly treated and taken advantage of by the organizers of the Adidas Badminton Challenge held over last weekend at the Portside Badminton Plaza.

We were able to catch up with the last leveling for that particular tournament two Sundays ago. We showed up at 3pm and were registered in the mixed doubles event.

A certain Judith from the Philippine Badminton Association (PBA) in Manila was in charge of the leveling. Leveling is done to ascertain the level of proficiency of a team in every event. I specifically remembered her being one of the umpires of the recently concluded MVP Cup. She was officiating the match between our very own Kennie and Kennevic Asuncion versus the number one ranked tandem of Gail Emms and Ian Robertson. I remember specifically remember her for her constant mispronunciation of Gail's" Emm. She must have been very star struck in that event for she not only mispronounced the name of Gail but also kept on committing mistakes by miscalling the balls in or out.

Anyway, as the leveling went that afternoon, Judith put us in the Class D-minus category. But due to the request of our co-players, Judith decided to level us again.

Judith finally put us as D-plus. She told us, however, that they might decide to put us in the Class C or D depending on the total number of entrants per category. We were eventually put in the Class C level come tournament proper.

During the 1st day of the games, we won over three other teams in the elimination round topping our group in the Class C mixed doubles event. Although we won in two straight sets in our 1st match, we outplayed our last two opponents in a deciding set.

We were, however, forewarned that the top teams in four other groups in our class were really good.

I prepared myself well for tougher matches by sleeping early at the end of the 1st day of matches. We were to play against a tandem from Manila who came over with the organizers and the PBA officials.

When our match in the semi-final round was called in the Sunday afternoon, I whispered to my partner that win or lose, we should just try our best and enjoy the game.

Our opponents were very young. The guy was spunky and, judging from the warm-ups, executed very strong smashes.

I was braising myself for a very tough match indeed. We exchanged smashes and drop shots in the early part of the 1st set. We kept on exchanging serves for a while before they finally beat us.

The second set was different, altogether. They zoomed to 14-0 by executing perfect smashes and cross drops. The guy just effortlessly defended my smashes and drop shots of my partner.

What was even more insulting was that they could have finished us at 0 with them serving for the match. But the guy whispered to his partner something and patted her shoulder at the same time. The next thing I knew was she faulted in her serve.

They obviously allowed us to score 6 points before winning the match in the 2nd set. I was so insulted by what happened although still managing to shake hands with our opponents.

I went directly to the tournament officials' table to complain about the game. We were obviously "out-classed". Our opponent, especially the guy, was obviously not Class C. He can even play against our varsity players here and give them a hard time.

I would probably understand if some team might outclass their opponents in the elimination round but not totally thrash them in the semi-finals where all that are left are the best teams of each group.

I wouldn't believe for a moment that Judith committed an honest mistake by not knowing the level of proficiency of this team from Manila. They all came here as a group brought by the head of the Philippine Badminton Association, Errol Chan.

Oh well, that particular "sandbagging" team from Manila eventually won the championship. I hope they are happy for their accomplishment. It was just a disgrace for the tournament and for the tournament sponsor. Let this be a lesson to us to be more vigilant next time. "Sandbagging" teams are always present in tournaments. What's pathetic is that they are not only tolerated, but, done by the organizers themselves. ([email protected])