WOMEN'S SINGLES
The final day of round-robin action of the 2018 CCAA Badminton National Championships finished up today with Takeisha Wang (Concordia University of Edmonton, ACAC) going undefeated in five matches to advance to the semi-final rounds Friday evening. Joining her, George Brown College's Ann Hoang (OCAA) as the second place seed after going 4-1 with her only loss coming from Wang. Wang will face fourth place finisher Christina Woo (Vancouver Island University, PacWest), while Hoang will take on third place Riley Hogan (Fanshawe College, OCAA).
In the first semi-final, local favourite Wang (Concordia University of Edmonton, ACAC) rolled past Woo in straight sets 21-4, 21-5 to advance to the gold medal final. In the second semi-final, George Brown's Hoang fought through an injury to defeat Fanshawe's Hogan 2-0 in a nail biter 21-18, 21-19.
MEN'S SINGLES
Host Concordia University of Edmonton's Desmond Wang headed to the Friday evening semi-final match-ups with a perfect 5-0 record in round-robin play. Yuge Zeng (George Brown College, OCAA) and Graydon Robb (Vancouver Island University, PacWest) both went 3-2 through round robin play, but it would be Zeng finishing with the second place spot, while Robb sits in third. Fourth-ranked Sahil Sahil (Fanshawe College, OCAA) will face off against Wang, with the winner guaranteeing a spot in the gold medal final.
The first semi-final in men's singles brought all of the excitement as 4-time CCAA medalist Robb pushed Zeng to the limit, with Zeng coming out on top 2-1 (21-13, 15-21, 21-16). Wang (ACAC) cruised to a 2-0 win (21-13, 21-10) over Sahil.
WOMEN'S DOUBLES
Women's doubles action saw the team of Elizabeth Duong and Chloe Rowe (Humber College, OCAA) go 5-0 through round-robin play, and headed into Friday night's semi-final action to face NAIT's Caitlyn New and Kaitlyn Wilbee of the ACAC (4th, 2-3). The second place team of Kelly Chiang and Joyce Leung (Langara College, PacWest) advanced to the semi-finals with their 4-1 record and will square off against Angeline Alviar and Yunji Kim (George Brown College, OCAA) who finished 3-2.
Langara's Chiang and Leung advanced to the gold medal final after a 2-0 win (21-14, 22-20) over Alviar and Kim, while Humber's Duong and Rowe (OCAA) continued their winning ways with a 2-0 (21-19,21-7) defeat over NAIT's New and Wilbee of the ACAC.
MEN'S DOUBLES
NAIT's Nick Roque and Imran Wadia (ACAC) advanced to the semi-final Friday evening with a 5-0 record after two days of round-robin play. Both Roque and Wadia will be looking for gold this year after finishing as CCAA silver medalists in last year's national championship, with Roque in mixed doubles and Wadia in men's doubles. Rounding out second place heading into the semis was Cameron Lai and Darcy Schmidt (Humber College, OCAA), while Eric Kern and Ethan Zhao (Georgian College, OCAA) and Luc-Ly Nguyen and Tyler Walsh (NAIT, ACAC) finished third and fourth respectively to head into the semi-final matches.
In an all-NAIT semi-final, Roque and Wadia (ACAC) faced off against teammates Nguyen and Walsh (ACAC), with Roque/Wadia coming out on top 2-0 (21-12, 21-19). The second semi-final saw OCAA rivals battle it out with Humber's Lai and Schmidt (OCAA) defeating Georgia's Kern and Zhao (OCAA) 2-0 (21-7, 21-11) to advance to the gold medal finals.
MIXED DOUBLES
Arpit Teneja and Crystal Qu (Humber College, OCAA) headed to semi-final action with a 5-0 record following two days of round-robin play. NAIT's Jeffrey Ko and Eyota Kwan (ACAC) finished 4-1 to finish second in round-robin play, while Mike Ra and Amy Ding (George Brown College, OCAA) and Sam White and Sam Lawther (University of King's College, ACAA) finished with 2-3 records to round out third and fourth place heading into the Friday night semi-finals.
The first semi-final in mixed doubles saw Ko and Kwan (NAIT) match up with Ra and Ding with the NAIT duo coming out on top with a 2-0 win (21-13, 21-8), while Humber's Teneja and Qu (OCAA) took care of business with a 2-0 win (21-15, 21-15) over White and Lawther.
Source: Concordia University of Edmonton/CCAA Communications