The 18th Daihatsu ABC Badminton National Primary School Tournament

Okayama Qualifying Tournament Report

Seto-cho, a city situated on the eastern end of Okayama-shi. Okayama Qualifying tournament was organized on 25 June at a Sports facility standing atop a small hill known as "Seto-cho General Athletic Park Gymnasium"
At the venue, there were about 240 boys and girls from primary 1 to 6 participating in the tournament, a number slightly more than that of last year. The qualifying rounds began at 10 in the morning and the heated matches and strong support continued till 5 in the evening.

U-13 players selected for the national team made their appearance. In the Class A Girls, a class with much attention paid to, players from the same club team competed against each other in the finals. This further increased the attention paid to the match. A heated situation erupted, where both parties forced their opponents to move by swiftly attacking, and each snatched points from the other player. Both players took one set each and in the third set, while allowing a lead from her opponent in the early stage, by establishing her own rhythm and tenaciously picking up the shuttle by the net, Hori emerged victorious.
She conquered the closely matched impressive game.

Also, in the Class B Boys, while one player shot in smashes from rallies, the other south pawed player aimed for the deep course. Watanabe, who took the first set was falling behind in the first half of the second set. However, utilising his flexible and powerful smashes, he caught up and rode on that momentum to emerge victorious.

Interview of National Tournament Competitors

On the said day, the sky remained only cloudy despite the forecast of rain. Some teams conducted their warm ups such as running around the gymnasium even before the opening time. At 9am at the entrance hall of the venue, staff from Daihatsu who were here to support the tournament cheerfully welcomed the players and their family members. They distributed the stick balloons meant for cheering and sports drinks to them. Many players smiled as they were enveloped in the pleasant atmosphere.

In addition, a special event, "Free regular inspection of your car" that was limited to 30 people was arranged. Without regards to the brand or type of the vehicle, service staff from Daihatsu conducted inspections. Furthermore, cleaning activities around the venue was conducted after the tournament ended.
A man who applied for the inspection was overjoyed and he said, "It was great that they even checked the tyres properly and meticulously as I have been worried about them due to the rainy season. I have been here several times to support my son so far, but this is the first time that I have witnessed such an atmosphere brought about by the stick balloons and the inspection event."

At the entrance, life-sized cut-outs of players in their Japan representative uniforms was placed. The tournament competitors and the audiences posed happily in front of it and wrote supportive messages on it. Everyone was enjoying the other activities aside from just the matches as well. Also, the audiences waved the stick balloons as they supported the players and took many pictures. The whole venue was enveloped in a pleasant atmosphere throughout the event.