ACAC dominates CCAA Nationals
MIXED DOUBLES
The opening match of the gold medal rounds did not disappoint. Jeffrey Ko and Eyota Kwan (NAIT, ACAC) captured national gold and the ACAC’s first medal of the day in their 2-0 (21-13, 21-8) win over Arpit Taneja and Crystal Qu (Humber College, OCAA).
George Brown College’s Mike Ra and Amy Ding had their hands full in the CCAA Bronze medal match up, capturing the OCAA’s first of four bronze medals at the tournament. Ra and Ding defeated Sam White and Sam Lawther (University of Kings College, ACAA) 2-1 (22-20, 19-21, 21-14).
The King’s University (ACAC) duo of Abby Ledda and John Li played to a 2-0 win over Will Bui and Darby Walker (Vancouver Island University, PacWest) in the fifth place game on Saturday morning.
WOMEN'S DOUBLES
Elizabeth Duong and Chloe Rowe (Humber, OCAA) captured national gold on Saturday afternoon after a 2-0 (22-20, 21-12) win over Kelly Chiang and Joyce Leung (Langara College, PacWest). This was the second CCAA national championship title for Rowe as she was part of the women’s doubles duo that won it all in 2017. Duong and Rowe captured the OCAA’s first gold of the tournament, and their fifth medal over all.
Angeline Alviar and Yunji Kim picked up George Brown College and the OCAA’s second bronze medal of the day with their 2-0 (21-19, 21-18) win over Caitlyn New and Kaitlyn Wilbee (NAIT, ACAC). New and Wilbee’s teammates Bea Bernardo and Ryo Kuramochi played to a 2-1 (17-21, 21-12, 21-9) win over Olivia Adams and Susuha Tanaka from Mount Allison (ACAA) in the 5th place match.
MEN'S DOUBLES
Nick Roque and Imran Wadia captured gold in their men’s doubles gold medal game this afternoon, after finishing as silver medalists in last year’s CCAA National Championship, Roque in mixed doubles, Wadia in men’s doubles. The NAIT pair took set one 21-16 before Humber College’s Cameron Lai and Darcy Schmidt battled back to take set two, 21-17. Roque and Wadia took control of the third and final set, downing the Humber duo 21-12 to earn the national title.
Eric Kern and Ethan Zhao (Georgian College, OCAA) earned national bronze over NAIT’s Luc-Ly Nguyen and Tyler Walsh (ACAC) with a 2-1 (21-11, 15-21, 21-12) win. University of King’s College Bryce Mason and Benn Van Ryn (ACAA) played to a 2-1 victory over Langara College’s Lawson Chan and Timmy Yeung (PacWest), after losing the first set 16-21. Mason and Van Ryn went on to battle to 25-23 and 24-22 wins, ultimately clinching the fifth place spot in the nation.
WOMEN'S SINGLES
Home court favourite Takeisha Wang (Concordia University of Edmonton, ACAC) claimed the National title and gold medal after finishing with a silver medal at the 2017 national championship. Wang remained undefeated heading into today’s gold medal round, not dropping a single game throughout the championship. Unfortunately, midway through the second set, Wang’s opponent Ann Hoag (George Brown College, OCAA), who battled through injury to get to the gold final on Friday, was forced to retire early from the second set of the gold medal match.
In a thrilling three set match, Fanshawe College’s (OCAA) Riley Hogan captured the OCAA’s fourth bronze of the tournament in a 2-1 (17-21, 21-16, 21-14) win over Christina Woo (Vancouver Island University, PacWest). Hogan came from behind in the second set to claim a 21-16 victory to force a third and final set and play to a 21-14 win.
The fifth place match also saw quite a bit excitement between Kaitlyn Dougan (Olds College, ACAC) and Emma Hughes (Holland College, ACAA). Dougan stole the first set with a 21-12 win, before Hughes made a comeback, taking the final two sets 21-18 and 23-21 propelling to a 2-1 win for the ACAA.
MEN'S SINGLES
Desmond Wang (Concordia University of Edmonton, ACAC) was looking to follow in his sister’s footsteps on Saturday in the men’s singles national final, and did just that. Wang, a first year student-athlete at Concordia, played a strong match against Yuge Zeng (George Brown College, OCAA), capturing the national title in a 2-0 (21-14, 21-14) win.
Vancouver Island University’s Graydon Robb captured his conference’s first medal of the day with his 2-0 (21-17, 21-14) bronze medal win over Sahil Sahil (Fanshawe College, OCAA). Robb has medaled in each of the five CCAA championships that he has competed in, making him one of the most decorated badminton athletes in CCAA history.
In the men’s singles fifth place game, host Concordia University of Edmonton’s Nicolas Pittman took control of the match early, outscoring his opponent Matt Barlow (Holland College, ACAA) 21-5 in both sets.
