EDMONTON - Redeemer's Owen Kurvits finished in fourth place today at the 2013-14 CCAA National Badminton Championships. Kurvits advanced to the CCAA bronze medal match but fell to Humber College's Ryan Chow 2-0.

For the Royals, it tied the best finish ever at a national championship and it was their first appearance at a championship in badminton. Kurvits was in the running to secure Redeemer's first CCAA medal in the school's history but Chow was looking for payback from the OCAA provincial championship when Kurvits defeated him in the gold medal match.

Game scores were 21-18 and 21-13.

Kurvits advanced to the national championships by winning Redeemer's first-ever gold medal at the provincial championship in February.

Kurvits moved on to the CCAA bronze medal match after finishing 2-3 in the round robin portion of the event and in fourth place overall. Kurvits matched up against the No. 1 seed Lei Chen from Alberta in the semi-final and was defeated 2-0 (21-17, 21-13) dropping Owen into the bronze medal match.

Redeemer Royals head coach and OCAA coach of the year Benno Kurvits commented, "We have no regrets. Owen played really well today. Ryan (Chow) just found a way to play better."

Redeemer's other top finish at a national championship belongs to cross country runner Jakob VanDorp. VanDorp had a fourth place finish at the cross country national championships.

The 2013-14 CCAA Badminton National Championship are being held in Alberta and hosted by NAIT College.

Full standings, schedules, and up to date scores can be found at www.ccaa.ca/results-standings-s15585.

The historic 2013-14 season for the Royals now comes to an end. The season closes with two provincial medals, including a championship title, an OCAA coach of the year award, a No. 7 national ranking, and a fourth-place finish at the national championship.

Source: Redeemer University College