University of Chicago wins inaugural 
Great Lakes Campus Invitational

The University of Chicago Badminton Club defeated the University of Illinois Badminton Club 9-8 in a tense see-sawing match to win the 1998 Great Lakes Campus Invitational.  The tournament, which was held at Purdue University on February 28th, included teams from eight colleges and universities in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.

The NBL format takes the sport of badminton, traditionally an individual sport, and lets men and women compete together in a co-recreational team effort that includes innovative and fast-paced scoring.  Multiple games are played in men's singles, men's doubles, women's singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles.

Each game won is a point in the total team score, and in keeping with the co-recreational emphasis of the NBL format, mixed doubles is always played as the final event.  Teams are allowed to substitute players at the end of each game, and unlike traditional badminton, coaching is allowed during play.

In the Great Lakes Regional final, the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois were locked in a very close battle.  To start things off, the Illinois doubles teams of Chen Dong-Mehrdad Lordgooei and Gary Feng-Djoni Sidarta took two of the three men's doubles games from University of Chicago players Donny Chen and Wilfred Tang.  In the men's singles, University of Chicago member Milan Kratka was too much for Illinois, beating Yueh-lin Wu and Chen Dong to put Chicago up 4-2.

The University of Illinois women's doubles duo of Jui Shan Yong and Karenb Zink won all three of their games against Xiaoing Li and Judy Lu to move University of Illinois ahead 5-4.  Judy Lu then played women's singles for the University of Chicago and edged Karen Zink 2-1 to even the total team score at 6-6.

In the final event - a best three out of five mixed doubles contest - Illinois got off to an early lead when Chen Dong and Jui Shan Yong defeated Donny Chen and Judy Lu.  Milan Kratka then substituted in for Chen, and Chicago won the next game to even the team score at 7-7.  Now it was Illinois' turn to substitute, putting in Djoni Sidarta for Chen Dong.  The teams split the next two games, and with the score tied at 8-8, one final game was played to determine the winning team.

After playing all the women's doubles and mixed doubles games, however, Jui Shan Yong of Illinois began to tire and frustration began to creep into her game.  Kratka and Lu took and early lead in the final game, and although the Illinois duo made a late resurgence, Kratka and Lu held on to win the final game and the team title.

1998 Great Lakes Campus Invitational
Purdue University 
West Lafayette, Indiana 
February 28, 1998

Results:
Pool A: Indiana University d University of Cincinnati 9-8.  University 
of Chicago d Purdue-Gold 14-1.  Indiana University d Purdue-Gold 8-7.  University of Chicago d University of Cincinnati 10-6.
University of Chicago wins Pool A with a 3-0 record.

Pool B: Purdue-Black d Wheaton College 12-3.  University of Illinois d Kent State 15-0.  Purdue-Black d Kent State 13-2. University of Illinois d Wheaton College 14-1.  University of Illinois d Purdue-Black 10-5.  University of Illinois wins Pool B with a 3-0 record. 

Championship Match: 
University of Chicago d University of Illinois 9-8.