On the women’s side, Lyndsay Thomson (Douglas) dominated the courts once again to capture her second consecutive CCAA Championship title in the Women’s Singles event. Fellow Royals Jessy Sung and Melody Liang secured a first place win in Women’s Doubles. Returning from the 2007 Canada Winter Games, Richard Liang was strong to the finish, defeating last year’s champion Kiran Bogavelli and holding on to 1st place in Men’s Singles. In Men’s Doubles, Chris Lee and Andy Cheong played exceptionally to secure a gold medal finish. Team BC’s flag bearers at the 2007 Canada Winter Games, Alvin Lau and Toby Ng, played each other for gold once again in Mixed Doubles. Douglas College’s Alvin Lau and partner Charmagne Yeung defeated Langara’s Toby Ng and partner Monica Mui with a score of 21-17, 21-14, to capture the title.
Official Final Standings:
Mixed Doubles
Gold – Alvin Lau / Charmagne Yeung (BCCAA)
Silver – Toby Ng / Monia Mui (BCCAA Host)
Bronze – Ryan Legere / Nicole Hilland (ACAC)
Men’s Doubles
Gold – Andy Cheong / Chris Lee (BCCAA)
Silver – Jon Vandervet and Michael Chong (ACAC)
Bronze – Max Peters and Mike Tran (BCCAA Host)
Women’s Doubles
Gold – Melody Liang / Jessy Sung (BCCAA)
Silver – Nathasha Liaw / Reshma Bhambanni (ACAC)
Bronze – Kylee Abrahamson / Megan Yim (BCCAA Host)
Men’s Singles
Gold – Richard Liang (BCCAA Host)
Silver – Kiran Bogavelli (BCCAA)
Bronze – Quinn Conway (ACAC)
Women’s Singles
Gold – Lyndsay Thomson (BCCAA)
Silver – Laura Fong (ACAC)
Bronze – Jody Carruthers (OCAA)
Team Championship
Gold – British Columbia Colleges’ Athletic Association
Silver – British Columbia Colleges’ Athletic Association (Host)
Bronze – Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference
The Canadian College Athletic Association (CCAA) proudly announced and presented the 2007 CCAA Badminton Awards during the CCAA All Canadian Awards Banquet held on Saturday, March 10th.
2007 CCAA Badminton Coach of the Year
Jordan Richey, NAIT – Edmonton, Alta.
2007 CCAA Badminton Players of the Year
Female: Lyndsay Thomson, Douglas College – New Westminster, B.C.
Male: Kiran Bogavelli, Capilano College – North Vancouver, B.C.
2007 Female Badminton All Canadians
Lyndsay Thomson, Douglas College – New Westminster, B.C.
Reshma Bhambhani, Concordia University College of Alberta - Edmonton, Alta.
Margaret Myjak, Mohawk College – Hamilton, Ont.
Jing Bing Lam, University of New Brunswick Saint John - Saint John, N.B.
2007 Male Badminton All Canadians
Kiran Bogavelli, Capilano College – North Vancouver, B.C.
Ryan Legere, Mount Royal College – Calgary, Alta.
Nathaniel Allard, Fanshawe College - London, Ont.
Mike Smith, University of King's College - Halifax, N.S.
The CCAA and the Host Organizing Committee would like to thank our national sponsors for their support and efforts in making these Championships possible, including Black Knight – Official Badminton Equipment Supplier of the CCAA, Carlson Wagonlit Travel, WestJet and Sport Canada.
Royals make history by winning all five events.
Richmond, BC - The 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 5 National titles. It's the first time in history that one college has swept all 5 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, 21-18 win over Laura Fong of Alberta. Lyndsay, finished a 2nd 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 1st game, Kiran took control with a 21-16 win. But Richard came out fighting in the 2nd game and stepped up the pace, resulting in a 21-18 win to equal the match at 1 game all. The 3rd & 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 3rd 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 un-beaten 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 2nd 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 6 players were members of the winning Canada Games Badminton Team.