Douglas College Royals badminton players made a strong showing at the Yonex Alberta series at Mount Royal University over the weekend.

Douglas students won four separate finals, including a near clean sweep of men’s and women’s singles.
Fifth-seeded Logan Campbell upset former five-time Royals national champion Alvin Lau on his home court following a 21-8, 22-20 victory in the men’s singles final.

Current Royal Bob Sharma took third place, defeating Jason Ong of Richmond  21-13, 21-13 in the consolation final. The medal sweep in the men’s singles was impressive since Douglas had not had a player get beyond the men’s quarter-finals at the Alberta event in the past two years.

“It was a huge win for him (Campbell),” said Douglas coach Al Mawani of Burnaby. “He told me before he was going to win the tournament. He felt very confident he could win it.”

Campbell, a Calgary native, and Lau later teamed up to win the men’s doubles,  knocking off top seeds Kai Dan and national champion Jon Vandervet of Alberta 21-15, 21-19 in the series final.

Douglas grad and top seed Stephanie Ko was pushed to a third set before upending Adriana Holcek of Calgary 19-21, 21-10, 21-9 in the final of the women’s singles. Charmagne Yeung placed third in singles. Ko,. A four-time national collelgiate doubles champion, and Yeung teamed up for third overall in the women’s doubles, beating Alberta’s Mary Smith and Irene Wong 21-11, 24-22.

The Royal twosome were upset 21-18, 21-10 by eventual champs and unseeded pair Jenn Lam of Ontario and Alberta partner Lindsay Smith in the semifinal.

Ko and Yeung also placed in separate mixed doubles. Ko teamed with Wei Luo for second place, while Yeung and Campbell finished right behind in third in mixed action.

“We took a lot of positives from the whole trip,” Mawani added. One of those positives was the confident play gained by Luo. The second-year Burnaby athlete was also a winner in the men’s B doubles final, teaming with fellow Royal Simon Wu for the team’s fourth first-place finish. That result seemed to inspire Luo for the mixed doubles, Mawani said.

Unseeded Ko and Luo upset the Alberta top seeds Yang Sun and Dan 21-17, 21-19 in the semifinals. Ko and Luo then pushed Vandervet and Lam to three sets before falling in the ensuing final 21-13, 17-21, 21-12.

Sharma also counted a second top finish, placing second in the mixed doubles B flight with partner Jenny Yang of Alberta. “I was very pleased with the effort on the floor. There were positives from every player on this trip,” said Mawani.

By Tom Berridge, Burnaby Now
January 16, 2012

To read more: http://www.burnabynow.com/entertainment/Westminster+college+dominate+singles+Alberta/6004447/story.html#ixzz1jw3MIo8i

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The Douglas College Royals badminton team proved once again the toast of the country.

The No. 1-ranked Royals won three individual gold medals at the Canadian Colleges’ Athletic Association national badminton championships at Mount Allison University in Sackville, N.B. in March, including an unprecedented fifth straight women’s doubles title by Melody Liang.

Liang’s doubles partner, Stephanie Ko, earned a fourth consecutive national doubles title, while singles sensation RuiLin Huang became a three-time national champion and the national association’s first-ever three-time female player of the year.

It was Huang’s third straight undefeated season in individual league and tournament play in a college career spanning more than 120 games.

Not to be outdone, a pair of Douglas College men also made their mark at the badminton nationals.

B.C. runners-up Darren Hong and Rey Luo avenged an earlier loss in the collegiate provincial finals, taking the gold medal at the national championships in men’s doubles.

All five Douglas players swept their combined opposition without dropping a single game.

“To tell you the truth, I expected it to be much harder this year,” said Douglas head coach Al Mawani.

Prior to the nationals, Douglas won its sixth consecutive provincial college championship title on its home court in New Westminster.

“I’m very, very proud of the team,” Mawani added. “It shows we have a program and not just the individuals within it.”

Liang and Ko graduated from Douglas at the end of the school year, while Huang decided to take time out from the 2011/2012 season.

The current Douglas Royals badminton team ended 2011 in a similar fashion, winning both tournaments in the fall semester by wide margins and holding on to an almost insurmountable points lead heading into the winter break.

BY TOM BERRIDGE, THE RECORD

To read more:
http://www.royalcityrecord.com/sports/Badminton+Royals+story+2011/5917743/story.html#ixzz1i0hHbf9y

The Intensity, Competitiveness, and Trash talking was almost at a boiling point at the recent China Open!  AND this was only from the team owners and coaches!!! The annual club China Open team competition has quickly turned into one of the highlight events on our club calendar. After 5 pressure filled rounds of competition, the team led by owner Denise Moo(aka: The Silent Assasin) came out of nowhere to win the tournament. Assisted by team coaches Charmagne Yeung and Bob Sharma(questionable), Team Moo lost their first round but after settling down won 2 of the last 3 rounds to clinch the title and thus leaving Team Lee to finish in 2nd place. Team member Bryan Ng, who was the only member with any experience in this competition, now has won 2 titles in the 3 year history of the tournament to tie Devon Louie for the overall lead.  Other team members included: Bob Sharma, Charmagne Yeung, Irwin Ng, Collin Yan, Emma Liu, and Brandon Lim. Denise is the 3rd different owner to win this competion.
See pictures from the China Open – Team event.

Final Team Standings:
1st Team Moo
2nd Team Lee
3rd Team Lim
4th Team Ng
5th Team Luk

Coco Lee and Joshua Au were the 2 dominant players in this years Jr. China Open tournament. Coco and Joshua both won their singles events and then teamed up with their doubles partners(Joshua with Kaiser Lee & Coco with Wendy Feng) to win the doubles before teaming up to win the mixed doubles competition that would give them the ‘triple crown’.   In the 2C event, Alvin Wong defeated last years champion Kavanbir Toor to win the boys singles event and Rebecca Zhang defeated Sharon Yang to win the girls singles event.   In the Shuttle 1 grouping Sebastian Shek did the ‘double’ by winning the singles event and teaming up with Kendric Lee to win the doubles event.

See picture(Coco Lee with Wendy Feng – winners of the 1C girls doubles)