LONDON, Ont. - The top 48 badminton student-athletes across the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) will showcase their skills at Fanshawe College on Friday and Saturday at the 2015 OCAA Badminton Championships.

The OCAA held a pair of regionals from Feb. 6-7, with the top three singles players and doubles teams from five events advancing to provincials.

OCAA history could be made if the Humber College mixed team of Tracy Wong (Richmond Hill, Ont.) and Adam Dong (China) can win the provincial title. Wong has won OCAA gold medals at four straight championships, looking to run the table in her final year of eligibility. Wong and Dong went undefeated at west regionals. Mohawk College's Victoria Hall (Brantford, Ont.), a gold medalist in women's doubles last year, aims for mixed gold with partner Kianoosh Moslemi (Burlington, Ont.), a 2014 gold medalist in men's doubles.

Collège Boréal's Julien Bélanger and Brittany Bisson; Cambrian College's Taylor Cond (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.) and Hans Agnihorti (Sudbury, Ont.); Fanshawe's Kori Frederick (London, Ont.) and Alex Dominski (London, Ont.); and Seneca College's Jeff Chow (Scarborough, Ont.) and Rachel Nham (Vietnam) round out the mixed doubles field. Chow and Nham were perfect at east regionals.

Defending OCAA men's singles champion Owen Kurvits (Hamilton, Ont.) of Redeemer University College looks to defend his crown after going undefeated at west regionals. He will contend with Seneca's Milan Kkharel (Scarborough, Ont.), who went undefeated at east regionals. George Brown College's Hieu Tran (Vietnam), Howard Ng of Centennial College and Humber teammates Jesse Assing (Bethany, Ont.) and Cameron Lai (Mississauga, Ont.) round out the men's singles field.

Jessica Fang (Ottawa) of St. Lawrence College-Brockville topped all women's singles players with a perfect 6-0 mark at east regionals, as she looks to continue her win streak at Fanshawe. Humber's Olivia Lei (China) went undefeated at the west regionals, and will be joined by teammate and defending OCAA champion Cindy Fu (China) at provincials. Katie Lu (Richmond, B.C.) of Seneca, Georgian College's Sharon Lu (Barrie, Ont.) and Conestoga College's Jessica Murray (Harrington, Ont.) will also compete for a women's singles crown.

One half of the defending men's doubles champions, Adam D'Agostino (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.) of Mohawk, will partner with Chris Hong (Hamilton, Ont.) this time around with the same goal of reaching the top of the podium. Tommy Cheung (Hong Kong) of Seneca took silver last year, and will also have a new partner in Allan Tong (Scarborough, Ont.). Centennial's Gerald Sequeira and Teddy Fong; George Brown's Ross Golding (Toronto) and Ogyen Dorjee (Toronto); Humber's Ryan Chow (Mississauga, Ont.) and Darcy Schmidt (Haliburton, Ont.); and St. Clair College's Dat Dang (Windsor, Ont.) and Matt Treloar (Belle River, Ont.) round out the men's doubles field. Chow was the men's singles silver medalist in 2014.

A strong field of competitors will battle in women's doubles, including the Seneca duo of Suzy Yan (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.) and Yan Zhou (China) and Humber partners Christina Duong (Kitchener, Ont.) and Michelle Chow (Markham, Ont.). Both teams went undefeated at their respective regionals. In a bit of a twist, Yan and Duong were partners with Humber at last year's provincials, taking bronze. Boréal's Katelynn Gravelle and Holly Laderoute; Fanshawe's Riley Hogan (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.) and Jodi Grobbecker (Stratford, Ont.); George Brown's Nikki Woon (Toronto) and Yunji Kim (South Korea); and Redeemer's Julie Koopmans (Chatham, Ont.) and Robyn Bennett (Burlington, Ont.) will also complete. Bennett was a 2014 bronze medalist in mixed doubles.

The OCAA championship will begin Friday with the first two rounds starting at 12 noon. The third and fourth rounds will begin at 4 p.m.

Play continues Saturday at 11 a.m. with the final round robin. Medal round matches take place at 1:30 p.m.  

Gold and silver medalists at provincials advance to the 2015 Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association Badminton National Championship, hosted by University of King's College in Halifax from March 4-7.

Championship Website: www.fanshawec.ca/2015-ocaa-provincials

- OCAA -

ABOUT ONTARIO COLLEGES ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION

The Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) is a recognized leader in intercollegiate athletics in the province, dedicated to student athlete and sport development. The OCAA has 30 members sponsoring 11 sports.

For additional information please contact:
Josh Bell-Webster
Marketing and Communications
Ontario Colleges Athletic Association
Tel: 416-426-7041
Fax: 416-426-7308
E-mail: bell-webster@ocaa.com