Douglas Badminton Sweeps

Royals make history by winning all five events

Douglas College Athletics

ee Douglas College Royals

badminton team showed exactly why
they are ranked #1 in the country by
completing a fantastic season with
a clean sweep of all five National
titles. It’s the first time in history
that one college has swept all five
events in the same season. The
National championships hosted by
Douglas College at the Richmond
Pro Badminton Centre started with a
team competition and finished over the
weekend with an individual event.

After winning the team competition
with a perfect 20-0 matches won-loss
record, the team set out to continue
its success in the individual event.
The finals began fittingly with team
captain Lyndsay Thomson defending
her Women’s singles title with a hard
fought 21-18 win over Laura Fong of
Alberta. Lyndsay finished a second
consecutive season undefeated in
Women’s singles play. “Lyndsay started
the match a little nervous but once
she settled down she controlled most
of the match,” commented Douglas
head coach, Arif (Al) Mawani. In the
match of the tournament, Richard Liang
took on Kiran Bogavelli of Capilano
College, the 2006 defending Men’s
singles champion. In a hard fought first
game, Kiran took control with a 21-16
win. But Richard came out fighting in
the second game and stepped up the
pace, resulting in a 21-18 win to equal
the match at 1 game all. The third and
deciding game was a classic. CCAA
Badminton Convenor, Alf McGuire
said it was “Probably the best match

I’ve seen in a decade.” The two players
played a high-tempo deciding game
with shot making of the highest quality.

“Richard kept his composure and
took everything Kiran threw at him.
I’m very proud of Richard,” added
Mawani after Liang closed out the third
game with a thrilling 21-19 victory.
Douglas College Athletic Director Lou
Rene Legge was always confident that
Richard would pull through. “I was
convinced that he would win today.

He was getting closer every time they
played,” said Legge.

Following the emotional singles
match, Melody Liang and Jessy Sung
completed their unbeaten season with
a convincing 21-6, 21-14 win over the
Bhambani and Liaw team from Alberta.
The Men’s doubles was won by the
‘all-rookie’ team of Chris Lee and
Andy Cheong. The under rated team
were always in control in defeating the
Alberta team of Vandervet and Cheong
21-7, 21-16. The final match of the
day saw defending Mixed Doubles
champions Alvin Lau, and Charmagne
Yeung defeat Toby Ng and Monica Mui
from Team BC second team. Mawani
was very happy with his mixed pairing.

“Alvin and Charmagne have
been excellent the past couple of
weeks, fighting through injuries and the
flu bug. The pair are a dream to coach;
they always have an excellent attitude
and have a team first approach.” The
athletes will now take a well deserved
break as six players were members of
the winning Canada Games Badminton
Team.

 

 

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