Conestoga Set to host OCAA Badminton Championships

TORONTO - The 48 student-athletes competing at this year's Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) Badminton Championships are now known based on results from the OCAA regional tournaments held this past weekend.

The top three singles players and doubles teams from each discipline at the two regionals advance to provincials, being hosted by Conestoga College from Feb. 13-14.

At the east regional hosted by Georgian College in Barrie, Ont., Areej Shalwani (Pakistan) of George Brown defeated Akara Chooprawad (Toronto, Ont.) of Seneca 21-17, 19-21, 21-11 in the men's singles first-place match. Parmveer Singh (India) of Centennial pulled out the final spot at provincials with a comeback victory against Seneca's Justin Wong (Vancouver, B.C.) 20-22, 21-18, 21-12 in the third-place match.

In women's singles, Huyen Le (Vietnam) beat two-time defending OCAA champion Anh Hoang (Vietnam) 21-10, 21-14 in an all-George Brown first-place match. Jessica Maher (Tottenham, Ont.) of Georgian knocked out Alina Zeng (China) of Seneca 21-3, 21-10 in the third-place match and will also advance to provincials.

Seneca's men's doubles team of Saatvik Mahajan (India) and Mohammed Faizan Shaikh (India) finished in first place with an unblemished record of 5-0. Brandon Watkins (Finch, Ont.) and Afsar Chowdhury (Kingston, Ont.) of St. Lawrence placed second with a mark of 4-1 while Centennial's Peter Nie (Toronto, Ont.) and Hamza Munawar (Bowmanville, Ont.) qualified for provincials with a record of 3-2.

Kiersten Hillman (Bracebridge, Ont.) and Paige Hillman (Bracebridge, Ont.) of Georgian won the women's doubles competition with a record of 5-0. Salina He (Toronto, Ont.) and Sarah Nguy (Richmond Hill, Ont.) of Seneca finished in second spot with a record of 4-1 while Diana Bosco (Toronto, Ont.) and Fiona Kwan (Toronto, Ont.) of George Brown finished in third place with a record of 3-2.

Only three mixed doubles teams competed at the east regional, with all three earning a berth to provincials. The three teams played a round robin, with Seneca's Poy Lo (Markham, Ont.) and former OCAA silver medalist Christine Nguyen (Whitby, Ont.) placing first, Centennial's Brandon Cheung (Scarborough, Ont.) and another former OCAA silver medalist Jia Yi Feng (Scarborough, Ont.) placing second, and Georgian's Daniel Hong (Angus, Ont.) and Gurkehar kaur Kalra (India) taking third.

In the team competition, Seneca took the men's title, while George Brown claimed the women's crown.

The west regional took place at Humber College in Toronto. In men's singles, Pranav Satheesh (Kitchener, Ont.) of Conestoga came back against defending OCAA champion Ramnish Kumar (India) of Humber 16-21, 21-16, 21-13 in the first-place match. The third-place match was won by UTM's Ryan Chen (Toronto, Ont.) over Conestoga's Sadik Ali (Kenya) 24-22, 21-11.

In women's singles, Fanshawe's Glyvette Etis (Philippines) defeated Humber's Melissa Duong (Toronto, Ont.) 21-11, 21-7 in the first-place match. In an all-UTM match-up for third place, it was Margaret Anderson (Mississauga, Ont.) prevailing over Alice Xia (Calgary, Alta.) 24-22, 21-18.

Humber doubles teams all won their respective competitions. In men's doubles, defending OCAA champions Arpit Taneja (India) and Ayubu Touray (Etobicoke, Ont.) went 5-0 in round robin play. UTM's Vern Chew (Malaysia) and former OCAA bronze medalist Nicholas Hon (Richmond Hill, Ont.) placed second with a record of 4-1, while Conestoga's David Lewis (Cambridge, Ont.) and Suhail Mohammed (Cambridge, Ont.) secured a berth to provincials with a mark of 3-2.

Three-time OCAA gold medalist Chloe Rowe (Newcastle, Ont.) and Susanna Quach (Vaughan, Ont.) of Humber were 5-0 in women's doubles action. UTM's Kate Huang (Halifax, N.S.) and Danna Biboso (Oakville, Ont.) finished in second place with a 4-1 record, while Fanshawe's Maeyen Chua (Philippines) and former OCAA silver medalist Helen Ngu (London, Ont.) placed third with a record of 3-2.

In mixed doubles, two-time OCAA medalist Victoria Duong (Kitchener, Ont.) and Desmond Chan (Mississauga, Ont.) of Humber prevailed with a record of 5-0. Conestoga's Rhaea Visto (Kitchener, Ont.) and Christian Hill (Aylesford, N.S.) placed second with a 4-1 record, while UTM's Cindy Zhou (China) and Kyle Yip (Hong Kong) took third place with a mark of 3-2.

Humber won both the men's and women's west regional team titles.