Douglas dominates badminton Stephanie Ko and Alvin Lau off to impressive starts By Garth McLennan, Sports Editor ouglas College has traditionally had D: very strong badminton program, and it was showcased once again last weekend by two of the Royals’ strongest players, Stephanie Ko and Alvin Lau. In the first BCCAA badminton tournament of the year, Ko was perfect over the weekend, sweeping all of her games by going a combined 11-0 in both singles and doubles competition. Ko, who is in her third year at Douglas, helped stake the Royals to a first place standing early on in the season with a commanding 88-point lead over Kwantlen University. Ko picked up right where she left off last season, where she captured the prestigious Premier’s Award for outstanding 2008 athlete of the year award, which covers all college sports across the entire country. Over the last two seasons he’s been named Douglas College’s male athlete of the year, which includes every sport, and has won several Premier’s Awards as well. He also represented Team Canada at the bi- annual Thomas Cup last year in Indonesia, which is a highly prominent, internationally contested tournament. Lau doesn’t just destroy the competition. He is also an accomplished coach at Richmond Pro Badminton Centre, which is the largest facility of its kind in all of North America. Like Ko, Lau was brilliant during tournament play last weekend, where he _ won both the singles and mixed doubles sides of the events and finished up with an_ “The captain of the men’s squad, Lau is now a seasoned Royals veteran as he begins his fifth year at the College, and with the credentials he’s racked up in that time, he very well may be Douglas’ best athlete of all time.” play over the course of the 2008-09 campaign. Meanwhile, on the men’s side of the event, Lau was equally as dominant. The captain of the men’s squad, Lau is now a seasoned Royals veteran as he begins his fifth year at the College, and with the credentials he’s racked up in that time, he very well may be Douglas’ best athlete of all time. If British Columbia took collegiate sports half as seriously as our neighbours to the south, Lau wouldn’t be able to walk down a hallway at Douglas without being noticed. In his four previous seasons playing badminton for the Royals, Lau has racked up four consecutive provincial championships and last year won the CCAA (Canadian Colleges Athletic Association) Stephanie Ko impressive 10-1 total tournament mark. Just like the women’s Royals, the men are once again out in front in the BCCAA provincial badminton standings. If the Royals win this year, which would be their fifth straight provincial championship, Lau would set a new record for most career and successive titles. To begin the year, Lau was named the BCCAA badminton male athlete of the week, while Ko was given the female award. While badminton doesn’t always garner the attention it probably deserves for such a skill game, it can hardly be disputed that Lau is a rare talent. He’s on the verge of making history at Douglas as well as building on a phenomenal collegiate career that few anywhere can even compare to. Alvin Lau Pull for David Haye -¢ POR oT the British boxer to take on champ Valuev for WBA heavyweight title By Garth McLennan, Sports Editor n November 7 there is a very O= chance that boxing could go a long way to restoring some pride in their heavyweight division. I’m speaking of course about the WBA title fight taking place in Nuremberg, Germany, between reigning champion Nikolay Valuev (50-1, 34 KOs) and British challenger David Haye (22-1, 21 KOs). Valuev, the plodding seven footer from Saint Petersburg, Russia, has held the belt since August 2008 when he when basically stood in the middle of the ring for 12 rounds while Holyfield danced around and peppered him with jabs. Then there’s David Haye, the 29- year-old Brit who was one of the most dominant cruiserweight champions in years before he vacated his many titles in order to step up to the heavyweight division. The Valuev bout will be just his second fight at 200 Ibs or more and he’ll be at a large weight disadvantage against Valuev, who fought Holyfield at 310 Ibs. Also, at 6 foot 3 Haye is no pixie, but he’ll be staring at a giant when he steps into the ring with the 7-foot-2 Valuev. “While Valuev has established himself as one of the blandest and boring champions on the face of the Earth, Haye has played the cocky underdog role to perfection.” he won a split decision over John Ruiz, but has so far only defended the title once, in a farcical bout against a then-46-year- old Evander Holyfield last December, who clearly won the fight but was absolutely robbed by the judges. Now, I’m not normally overly critical of most boxers, but with Valuev I have to make an exception. It would be best for boxing, a sport whose popularity swings with the quality and competitiveness of its heavyweight division, if Valuev dropped the title. With the exception of Valuev, the rest of the heavyweight class has been making a comeback. Vitali Klitschko is in the midst of a successful and inspiring return from a four-year retirement, has already captured the WBC Heavyweight crown and is about to fight for the fourth time in little over a year. His brother Wladimir is dominant as well, and the current WBO, IBO, IBF and Ring Magazine world champion. There is a strong cast of challengers out there as well, but Valuev has become a problem. First off, for a world champion to not defend his title in over ten months is disgraceful, and even more so when you consider the horrible exhibition that was the Holyfield fight, where Valuev While it’s true that Haye hasn’t been very active of late, (his last bout was a fifth-round TKO against Monte Barrett last November) it hasn’t been for lack of trying. The highly touted Haye had scheduled fights set with both of the Klitschko brothers for this past summer, but a back injury sidelined those plans and both Klitschkos took other matches. While Valuev has established himself as one of the blandest and boring champions on the face of the Earth, Haye has played the cocky underdog role to perfection. He’s compared Valuev to monsters from Lord of the Rings and hasn’t seemed afraid of the often sluggish but still much bigger Russian. Plain and simple, boxing needs a heavyweight champion who is going to face the best on a regular basis and be vocal about it. It needs a top guy who is visible to an American audience that has unfortunately relegated boxing to a niche sport since Lennox Lewis retired, and one that is not very receptive to fighters with ultra-defensive styles like Valuev has, not someone who hides away in Eastern Europe and has only fought in the United States twice in his 51-fight career, and never in Las Vegas, boxing’s holy land. David Haye could be that guy. 15 CS Sy