When Santiphon Phomvihame and his council decided that Laos will venture into untested water by hosting its first international badminton tournament in 2008, they must have somehow quietly felt apprehensive of their capacity to play host to a tournament of this proportion. Not having the experience of inviting foreign teams – practically the whole of Asia, the personnel to manage its running, limited accommodation, untested playing arena and related facilities, it would really be starting from the scratch. But fortunately for the landlocked country which is not often spoken of in badminton circles, Santiphon was a man of vision; not one to sit back and watch the rest of the world go by while his country remained in the backwaters of the sport.
Encouraged and supported by Badminton Asia Confederation, Laos finally set the date 23-27 April for its first Asian-level Future Series. It was a small start but an encouraging beginning. The series had all the trappings of an international tournament except for the fact that in place of cash prizes, it offered very attractive silverware – a welcome change from the norm these days.
And when the tournament finally came to a close on the Sunday evening, the consensus among the eight participating teams, visiting officials and spectators, was that it was a huge success. The loudest cheer came from the BAC through its chief operating officer, Karen Koh. “Laos put across a marvelous show. I cannot but speak highly of the patience, sincerity and willingness of Santiphon and his organizing team to learn and share. There were a number of shortcomings but they were willing to listen and work closely with us, resulting in a first class tournament.”
Karen had ensured BAC support to the Laos organizing committee by arranging for the tournament referee Ben Domingo of the Philippines to get to Vientiane days before the start of competition to make sure that everything was in place. “We also assisted them with three umpires. Laos did not have sufficient qualified umpires and line judges. The presence of BWF and BAC technical officials inspired the locals to perform beyond themselves for a well- disciplined tournament,” Karen said.