The Douglas College Royals put together a near-clean sweep at the third badminton tournament this season.
The Royals chalked up their third straight overall tournament win, winning the team competition with a perfect 5-0 record before taking all but one of the individual events in the two-day weekend tourney at Vancouver Island University Sunday.
Douglas was fortunate in pulling off a 3-2 team win over the host school to remain unbeaten before meeting the only other undefeated Kwantlen team in the final set of matches.
Tied 2-2 heading into the pivotal final match against Kwantlen, RuiLin Huang of Burnaby, the Royals two-time player of the year, teamed with Amy Leung to give Douglas the overall team title Saturday.
The win gave Douglas an overall 1,009 total points in the first three tournaments and all but wraps up a sixth consecutive provincial title for the Royals.
Douglas would have to suffer a complete collapse at the final tournament in February in order for second-place Kwantlen to have any chance of stealing the B.C. title away, said Royals head coach Al Mawani.
“We’re proud of that. But we have to stay focused though,” Mawani added. “As a team we played really well. We woke up a bit after a close win against (Vancouver Island University).”
In the individual events, Douglas took first place in women’s singles and all three final doubles matches.
Huang extended her singles winning streak to 11 straight event titles, edging Royals teammate Stephanie Ko 21-19, 21-19 to extend her individual win streak to 35 consecutive matches.
Huang decimated Thompson Rivers University’s Anica Arduini 21-4, 21-3 in the other semi.
Ko advanced to the final with identical 21-10 wins over Kwantlen’s Gurdeep Basran.
Ko teamed with Melody Liang for first place in the women’s doubles, edging Huang and Leung 21-19, 21-19 in the final.
Liang partnered with Darren Hong to win the mixed doubles 21-12, 21-16 over the Kwantlen pairing of Jensen Ly and Ashley Jang.
Hong and Rey Luo were given a challenge by TRU’s Garrett Babichuk and Alex Perkin in a men’s doubles semifinal.
The Royal duo slipped into the men’s final with a 22-20, 17-21, 21-19 victory. Hong and Luo then swept Simon Wu and Willis Kwee of Kwantlen in the final.
Luo settled for a silver medal in the men’s singles behind Peter Huang of Capilano. Luo defeated Pierre Tang of Langara 21-9, 22-20 in the semis.
The Royals will host the provincial tournament on Feb. 12 and 13
Read more:
http://www.burnabynow.com/sports/Birders+lock+sixth+title/4148093/story.html
Team Results:
Douglas College 1st
Kwantlen College 2nd
TRU 3rd
Langara College 4th
VIU 5th
Capilano College 6th
Individual Event:
Men’s Singles:
Peter Huang 1st (Capilano)
Rey Luo 2nd (Douglas College)
Women’s Singles:
RuiLin Huang 1st (Douglas College)
Stephanie Ko 2nd (Douglas College)
Men’s Doubles:
Darren Hong/Rey Luo 1st (Douglas College)
Simon Wu/Willis Kwee 2nd (Kwantlen)
Women’s Doubles:
Melody Liang/Stephanie Ko 1st (Douglas College)
RuiLin Huang/Amy Leung 2nd (Douglas College)
Mixed Doubles:
Darren Hong/Melody Liang 1st(Douglas College)
Jensen Ly/Ashley Jang 2nd(Kwantlen College)
