Phyllis Chan (Vancouver), who trains with Abdul Shaikh and Linling Wang at Ace Badminton Centre; Adrian Liu (Richmond), who trains with Darryl Yung, Ronne Runtulalo, and Sandiarto Liauw at ClearOne Badminton Centre; and brothers Derrick Ng and Toby Ng (Richmond), who also train with Darryl Yung, Ronne Runtulalo, and Sandiarto Liauw at ClearOne Badminton Centre, were selected to compete for Team Canada at the Pan Am Badminton Championships, which served as a test event for next year’s Pan Am Games.
Of the five Canadians who won gold at the Pan Am Championships, three were BC athletes. Adrian and Derrick beat top seeds Phillip Chew and Sattawat Pongnairat (USA) to win gold in Men’s Doubles for the third year in a row. Toby, along with his partner Alex Bruce of Ontario, took gold in Mixed Doubles for the second year in a row after a very close match with Phillip Chew and Jamie Subandhi (USA) that went 21-16, 19-21, and 21-18. Phyllis Chan also demonstrated terrific ability in Women’s Doubles with Alex Bruce, and managed to secure a bronze medal for her efforts.
For the ninth year in a row, Team Canada took home gold in the Team Event, narrowly defeating their US rivals after scrambling back from a harrowing 2-0 deficit. Team Canada has now won the Team Event a total of 11 times in the Pan Am Badminton Championships’ 13-year history.
While the athletes were representing Canada at the Pan Am Badminton Championships, an element of provincial pride persists among the medalists. “It is always a wonderful feeling to know that BC has done well,” says Chan. “I am very proud to be representing my province. I hope that my results will inspire the next generation of athletes.” Liu, too, notes that “having BC members on the team is awesome, but all of them being medalists is even sweeter. Three gold and one bronze is a great feeling.”
“BC’s presence on the podium at the 2014 Mandarin Pan Am Badminton Championships demonstrates that our province is producing capable athletes who are winning medals for Canada,” says Penny Gardner, Executive Director of Badminton BC. “We have excellent training resources in BC, and we will continue to support our elite level athletes as they compete both nationally and internationally.”