There were 37 participants in the Recreational Sports inaugural badminton tournament held Friday night inside Yosemite Hall 171. The indoor gym had eight courts set up as players exchanged forehands and backhands as birdies flew through the air.

Sacramento State student Can Huynh won the singles division defeating Narinder Golen in a best of three series. Huynh also won the doubles title with partner Mike Phan beating Brian Do and Johnny Peng in two straight games in the finals.

Each player paid $2 to participate in each event.

Huynh said a badminton player needs a variety of physical and mental skills to be successful.

“We have to have all the speed, stamina, agility, you name it,” Huynh said. “It’s not only a physical sport, it’s a mental sport too because it’s a duel sport.”

“You play by yourself against an opponent. You have no teammates to encourage you?if your mind is messed up during the game, you will probably lose. That’s why you have to stay focused during the game,” said Huynh.

Golen said that the key to playing badminton well is controlling the direction and speed of the birdie.

“It’s all about accuracy. You have to hit bird where you want to hit it. If you don’t have accuracy you won’t win,” said Golen.

Both Huynh and Golen are members of the badminton club at Sac State, which is made up of both students and community members. The club meets from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, in Yosemite 171.

Rec Sports Assistant Coordinator Ryan McCallum said that the tournament was purposely scheduled to finish as the club started to meet in the same gym.

“That way it gets the club exposure to some of our participants who might not have known that was a badminton club on campus. It will help grow their number of participants,” said McCallum.

Huynh said that it was nice that Rec Sports offered the badminton tournament for the first time.

“It’s a good opportunity for all the students that haven’t been exposed to badminton before to get a chance to see what it is really like. It’s not just a backyard sport,” said Huynh.

McCallum said that he thinks badminton’s popularity will continue to grow on campus.

“We (Rec Sports) have gotten a lot of support from faculty and staff, a lot of support from the community. The students participate in it and absolutely have a great time. So there are endless opportunities and possibilities that can happen with the badminton club,” said McCallum.

Andrew Eggers can be reached at [email protected]