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Photo by Madison Hart

Zane Chung-Mehdi, senior, extends on a return in the semifinals.

With 52 players, 26 teams, 10 courts, and two brackets, the annual Interact Badminton Tournament began with a stampede of students running around the Main Gym searching for their teams and matchups before the five minute timer began. But within ninety minutes of the opening buzzer, only one team left with prize money and bragging rights.

After winning all four of their matches, Ryan Kim and Alex Li, seniors on team “Affirmative Action,” faced off against the other undefeated duo “The Vegans,” seniors Zane Chung-Mehdi and Alvin Pham. With a final smash from Kim, Affirmative Action reached 21 and became this year’s champions.

“I just had a lot of fun with it,” Kim said. “This is my favorite tournament of the year.”

Though Kim’s usual tournaments consist of varsity tennis matches, the team’s background experience in badminton added extra talent to the team’s skill set, according to Li. While Kim and Li were excited about the win, Li looked at the tournament’s benefits more broadly than the $25 gift card grand prize.

“Tonight was great because we got to do something we love, but it’s also giving something back to the community for Charity Bash, which is always good,” Li said.

Throughout the fierce competition between teams with a wide variety of badminton experience, Interact raised approximately $250 that will go to this year’s Charity Bash charity, Partners for Progress, according to Hannah Sweetwood, senior Interact co-president.

“We host [this tournament] every year and we usually have a pretty good turnout because people really enjoy badminton, so we continue to do it,” Sweetwood said. “It’s just a fun P.E. game that people don’t really get to play outside of school, so they look forward to coming here and playing it for a good cause.”

While Sweetwood says she enjoys hosting the tournament and knows that it will continue to be successful due to student interest, Jack Gelinas, senior Interact co-president, credits the Interact members for helping the tournament and games run smoothly.

“I just really like seeing all the kids’ extreme competitiveness and seeing all of the people who are willing to help out and support Charity Bash by playing or refereeing,” Gelinas said. “It’s really nice seeing our school come together like that.”