Blitar (malangkota.go.id) – Malang Mayor Drs. H. Sutiaji was the guest of honor at the 2019 Blitar Regent's Cup Badminton Championship held at the Blitar Regency Multipurpose Building, Monday (12/8/2019).
The Mayor of Malang also participated in the exhibition match paired with Niko, the best badminton player in East Java Province. They competed against the Head of PBSI Blitar Regency, Lazim who was paired with Markis Kido.
Although it was only an exhibition match, the match was exciting and drained energy. Both teams seemed to be trying to match each other's game. The two rounds took place accompanied by loud applause from the audience. The match score ended 21-17 and 21-19 for the victory of the Markis Kido-Lazim pair.
The opening of the regional championship was attended directly by the Regent of Blitar Drs. Rijanto. MM, Deputy Regent of Blitar Marhaenis UW, Mayor of Malang, Secretary General of PBSI Achmad Budiarto and Chairman of the East Java PBSI Provincial Board Oei Wijanarko Adi, as well as two Indonesian badminton players who have made many achievements internationally, namely Markis Kido and Liliyana Natsir.
Both of them competed in the opening of the badminton championship exhibition match which will be held from 12 to 15 August 2019.
"Tonight we are in the multipurpose building of Blitar Regency to carry out an extraordinary activity, namely the Badminton Championship of the Regent's Cup (Blitar). Hopefully our activity tonight is a success," said the Regent of Blitar in his speech.
He also hopes that with the presence of Kejurkab Piala Bupati 2019, badminton athletes will emerge from Blitar Regency for Indonesia. In addition, the Regent also expressed his gratitude to PBSI for organizing the Kejurkab Piala Bupati 2019 event.
Before conducting the exhibition match, Liliyana Natsir and Markis Kido had time to give encouragement and motivation to the participants of the Blitar Regent's Cup Championship and the Blitar residents who enthusiastically came to the opening of the 2019 Regent's Cup Championship.
The regional championship held at the Blitar Regency Multipurpose Building will be competed starting from Pradini, early, children to adult classes.
Meanwhile, at the same location, the Mayor of Malang, Drs. H. Sutiaji, gave positive appreciation for the implementation of the event. "This is good and should be an annual routine agenda; thus, the seeds of badminton athletes will continue to emerge and be honed," he said.
Mayor Sutiaji also hopes that Malang City will be able to carry out similar activities at a larger level. "Because we all know, Malang City also has great potential for athlete seeds in the young generation," he said.
"Later we will push together so that PBSI Malang City can hold similar activities. It will be a pride if the championship is held at the national or international level so that the name of Malang City can be better known," said Sutiaji. (Ts)
