TORONTO - The top badminton players and coach in the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) were honoured Saturday following the conclusion of the 2022 OCAA Badminton Championships hosted by George Brown College.
Fourth-year student-athlete Yuge (Ace) Zeng (China) of George Brown is the OCAA Men's Badminton Player of the Year. Zeng not only went undefeated in men's singles play at the championship, he did so without dropping a set. Zeng returned to the top of the OCAA podium after winning gold in 2018. He also earned an OCAA silver medal in 2019. Zeng is also a member of the OCAA All-Ontario First-Team and is a nominee for National Men's Badminton Player of the Year.
First-year student-athlete I-Ting (Tessa) Liu (Taiwan) of Seneca is the OCAA Women's Badminton Player of the Year. Similar to Zeng, she also went undefeated in women's singles action at provincials without losing a set. Her average set score was 21-8 (excluding one outcome that was conceded), showcasing her dominance at the competition. Liu is also a member of the OCAA All-Ontario First-Team and is a nominee for National Women's Badminton Player of the Year.
Rick Leung of Seneca is the OCAA Coach of the Year. Leung guided the Sting to the OCAA women's team championship as well as a share of the men's team championship. Seven Seneca student-athletes were named to the OCAA All-Ontario teams and will represent the conference at nationals later this month. Leung is a nominee for National Badminton Coach of the Year.
The OCAA Fair Play Award was given to second-year men's singles player Jordan Maudsley (Dorchester, Ont.) of Fanshawe for his exemplary conduct at the championship.
All provincial gold medalists were named to the OCAA All-Ontario First-Team. In addition to Zeng and Liu, members include men's doubles winners Akara Chooprawad (Toronto, Ont.) and Anthony Tso (Markham, Ont.) of Seneca; women's doubles champions Victoria Duong (Kitchener, Ont.) and Praanjal Taneja (India) of Humber; and mixed doubles winners Airi Moromisato (Peru) and Sirapob Kongubon (Thailand) of Humber.
Silver medalists were named to the OCAA All-Ontario Second-Team. They include men's singles runner-up Kunal Sokar (India) of Seneca; women's singles silver medalist Dapasha Prabhjot (India) of Seneca; the second place men's doubles duo of San Dang (London, Ont.) and Arpitraj Sinha (Markham, Ont.) of Fanshawe; women's doubles runner-ups Salina He (Toronto, Ont.) and Katie Liu (Richmond, B.C.) of Seneca; and mixed doubles silver medalists Frederic Houle (Elliot Lake, Ont.) and Michelle Kozlowskyj (Sudbury, Ont.) of Boreal.
2022 OCAA BADMINTON MAJOR AWARDS
OCAA Men's Badminton Player of the Year
Yuge Zeng, George Brown
OCAA Women's Badminton Player of the Year
I-Ting Liu, Seneca
OCAA Badminton Coach of the Year
Rick Leung, Seneca
OCAA Badminton Fair Play Award
Jordan Maudsley, Fanshawe
OCAA Badminton First All-Ontario Team
Yuge Zeng, George Brown
I-Ting Liu, Seneca
Akara Chooprawad, Seneca
Anthony Tso, Seneca
Victoria Duong, Humber
Praanjal Taneja, Humber
Airi Moromisato, Humber
Sirapob Kongubon, Humber
OCAA Badminton Second All-Ontario Team
Kunal Sokar, Seneca
Dapasha Prabhjot, Seneca
San Dang, Fanshawe
Arpitraj Sinha, Fanshawe
Salina He, Seneca
Katie Liu, Seneca
Frederic Houle, Boreal
Michelle Kozlowskyj, Boreal
- OCAA -
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