Suzhou Health Care "Guan Jie Yan Cup" Badminton Team Tournament 2016 was kicked off at SIP Shuangyin Gymnasium on Dec 24. A total of 31 badminton teams from Suzhou, Zhenjiang, Changzhou, Wuxi, etc. came together to enjoy the fun of badminton during Christmas holidays. 

Zhou Jing, the person in charge of the tournament, said that this badminton event had been held in Suzhou for three times in a row.

The tournament staged five events, namely, men's doubles (total age exceeding 80 years), women's doubles, mixed doubles, men's single and men's doubles, in succession. 

In order to encourage female badminton players in Suzhou, this tournament innovated the competition format by adding the women's doubles.

Badminton enthusiast Shen Ting has frequented various badminton clubs in Suzhou over the past three years, working hard to improve her skills. According to her, she was a very amateur player and sprained her feet in a match a few years ago. After that, she made up her mind to practice professionally. The determined girl has made rapid progress and played in various major events in the city since then.

Besides veteran badminton fans, many new fans appeared in this year's tournament, such as Fan Xiaowen from SJEC Corporation team. Fan said that she began to take to badminton after joining the company, "Many colleagues play badminton and that attracts me to it."

This year's "Guan Jie Yan Cup" tournament included group match and knockout round that took place in two days. There were cash prizes for top eight places, and the prize for team title is 3000 yuan. In addition, the event set up Best Competition Manners Prize to endorse fair play and players with good manners.