Badminton buzz: Tournament draws 76 athletes from the Academy’s institutes

The Academy’s historic first “AKAtournament” in badminton showcased sporting talents (not only) from among scientists. On Sunday, 24 March 2024, 76 colleagues from various institutes of the CAS gathered to test their skills in three categories: men’s singles, women’s singles, and mixed doubles. As expected, the best emerged victorious.

It’s Sunday morning, just before nine, and the usual lie-in is replaced by the bustling atmosphere at the BB Arena in Prague’s Letňany. Scientists, directors, technicians, admin and IT staff from 21 CAS institutes, including the Centre of Administration and Operations and the Head Office of the CAS, have all gathered on the courts, ready to compete.

“Good morning, Dr. Baran,” someone calls out to Pavel Baran, President of the Science Council of the CAS, who came up with and initiated the tournament. “Pavel’s fine – here we are all equals,” he cheerfully responds, extending his hand for a handshake.

An in-house badminton tournament is a first for the Czech Academy of Sciences, and the interest from its institutes to participate was considerable. Organisers meticulously planned out court allocations and matches to accommodate all 76 participants, ensuring an uninterrupted sweat session for everyone competing in the doubles. The knockout competition was extensive especially in the mixed doubles category with 15 pairs, as well as 7 teams in the women’s doubles and 16 teams in the men’s doubles.

“As part of our community at the Academy, whether at our headquarters at Národní Street or in our institutes, we usually meet each other for work or at social and cultural events. I thought it would be a good idea then to bring colleagues together through sports in our free time. I enjoy sports; I’m a big football fan – especially of Baník – and badminton is and can be played by people regardless of age or gender,” Baran says, who floated the idea of hosting a tournament at the end of 2023. Soon after, dozens of participants signed up, and the tournament became a reality.

And the winners are...
First place in the mixed doubles category went to Jan Flusser and Veronika Tvrdíková from the Institute of Information Theory and Automation of the CAS. The silver medal went to Luboš Kočvar and Jana Lipárová from the Biology Center of the CAS, while bronze was secured by Tomáš Hlavatý and Lucie Kubíčková from the Institute of Thermomechanics of the CAS.

In the women’s doubles, Svitlana Kolomiyets and Tiina Liimets from the Astronomical Institute of the CAS claimed gold, followed by Vendula Havlíčková and Kristýna Šemberová from the Institute of Botany of the CAS with silver, and Jana Heinzová from the Institute of Geophysics of the CAS and Kateřina Potužníková from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the CAS with bronze.

The men’s doubles saw the most carnage and intense competition, evident from the high number of destroyed shuttlecocks. The finals were dominated by teams from the Institute of Physics of the CAS: Akhil Bhardwaj and Arvind Singh clinched first place, while second place went to Petr Hauschwitz and Jan Kaufman. Amongst the tough competition, Rudolf Kučera from the Masaryk Institute and Archives of the CAS and Jan Mervart from the Institute of Philosophy of the CAS secured third place.

Great courts and high spirits despite an absence of spectators
Although most pairs were eliminated early on in the knockoffs, spirits nevertheless remained high. Participants cheered each other on, nibbled on refreshments, and appreciated that the abundance of courts at the arena set the rapid pace of the tournament and gave it momentum.

“It would be awesome if more people came to cheer us on next time,” a group of players from the Center of Administration and Operations of the CAS commented as they left, referring to the absence of spectators. They were also alluding to the fact that the arena has stands from which a large fanbase could comfortably watch the matches if they so chose.

The first “AKAtournament” in badminton was co-organised by Pavel Baran, Jan Flusser from the Institute of Information Theory and Automation of the CAS, and Eva Kabíčková from the CAS Head Office, with support from the Institute of Physics of the CAS. And it seems that the rackets won’t be gathering dust at the Academy anytime soon. As Baran concluded in his last email: “Preparation for the tournament was not underestimated; however, my recommendation is to keep training.”

Prepared by: Luděk Svoboda, External Relations Division, CAO of the CAS
Translated by: Tereza Novická, External Relations Division, CAO of the CAS
Photo: Shutterstock; Viktor Černoch; Karolína Benková; Centre of Administration and Operations of the CAS

 The text is released for use under the Creative Commons licence.

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