TORONTO - The 48 student-athletes competing at this year's Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) Badminton Championships are now known based on results from the OCAA regional tournaments held this past weekend.

The top three singles players and doubles teams from each discipline at the two regionals advance to provincials, being hosted by the University of Toronto Mississauga from Feb. 15-16.

At the east regional hosted by George Brown College in Toronto, reigning OCAA men's singles champion Yuge (Ace) Zeng (China) of George Brown swept the competition with a 6-0 record. Teammate John Lee (Taiwan) as well as Danish Malhotra (India) of Seneca were both 4-2, finishing second and third, respectively, earning their tickets to provincials.

In the women's singles competition, reigning OCAA champion Ann Hoang (Vietnam) of George Brown went undefeated in six matches. Joining Hoang at provincials is Georgian's Jessie Maher (Tottenham), who had a 5-1 record, and Seneca's Sarah Nguy (Richmond Hill), with a 4-2 mark.

George Brown continued its strong regional showing in men's doubles, with two-time OCAA medalists Eric Kern (Desborats) and Alex Chao (Ottawa) going 5-0. Centennial's Brandon Cheung (Toronto) and Edmond Lin (Markham) at 4-1, and Seneca's Justin Wong (Vancouver, B.C.) and Yaoren Liang (China) at 3-2 also earned a spot at provincials.

Reigning OCAA bronze medalists Courtney Brewer (Manitouwadge) and Michelle Kozlowskyj (Garson) of Georgian won the women's doubles competition with a 5-0 mark. With 3-2 records, Boréal's Emilie Roy (South Porcupine) and Lynn Michel (Sudbury) and George Brown's Diana Bosco (Toronto) and Amy Ding (Toronto) also earned a trip to provincials, finishing second and third, respectively.

In the mixed doubles flight, Centennial's Chirag Dave (India) and Jia Yi Feng (Toronto) went undefeated in five matches. George Brown's Mike Ra (Toronto) and Angeline Alviar (Toronto) was runner-up with a 4-1 record, followed by St. Lawrence's Mikayla Desnoyers (Casselman) and Brandon Watkins (Finch) who went 3-2.

At the west regional hosted by Conestoga College in Kitchener, Ont., Ramnish Kumar (India) of Humber went undefeated in six matches to win the men's singles flight. Runner-up David Lewis (Cambridge) of Conestoga at 5-1 and Humber's Thao Le (Tillsonburg) with a record of 5-2 were also successful in their bids for provincials.

Reigning OCAA bronze medalist Rachel Wong (Hong Kong) of UTM had an unblemished 6-0 record to lead the way in the women's singles competition. Fanshawe's Melanie Wade (Calgary, Alta.) at 5-1 and Humber's Maria Nguyen (Toronto) at 5-2 also secured berths to the OCAA championships.

Humber doubles teams went undefeated at the competition. In men's doubles, Arpit Taneja (India) and Ayubu Touray (Toronto) were 4-0 to take top spot. Nicholas Hon (Richmond Hill) and Gary Tin (Richmond Hill) of UTM went 3-1, while Saad Masood and Jason Vu (Ottawa) of Mohawk went 1-3 as both teams advance.

In women's doubles, Victoria Duong (Kitchener) and Chloe Rowe (Newcastle) ran the table at 4-0 to secure their short trip to Mississauga. Joining the Humber duo will be Fanshawe's Helen Ngu (London) and Han Pham (Vietnam) with a record of 3-1, and Danna Biboso (Oakville) and Shuya Kate Huang (Halifax, N.S.) of UTM who finished 2-2.

The Humber mixed team of Harry Cotaras (Halifax, N.S.) and Elizabeth Duong (Peterborough) went 4-0 in their bid for a provincial berth. Yixuan Bai (China) and Alice Xia (Calgary, Alta.) of UTM went 3-1, while Kevin Huynh (Hamilton) and Lia Moon (Hamilton) of Mohawk went 2-2 to also secure spots at provincials.

Taneja, Victoria Duong, Rowe and Elizabeth Duong are all previous OCAA medalists.

George Brown won both men's and women's east regional team titles, as did Humber in the west regionals.

- OCAA -

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