KITCHENER, Ont. - The top badminton players and coach in the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) were honoured Friday morning as part of the 2020 OCAA Badminton Championships hosted by Conestoga College.
Third-year student-athlete Arpit Taneja (India) of Humber was named OCAA Men's Badminton Player of the Year. One half of the reigning OCAA men's doubles champions, Taneja teamed up with fellow OCAA All-Star Ayubu Touray (Etobicoke, Ont.) once again at the recently concluded West Regionals, rolling to a 5-0 record without dropping a set. Their average set score was 21-10. Their efforts helped Humber take the men's team title at the event. Along with being an OCAA All-Star, Taneja is an Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) All-Canadian, and a nominee for the National Men's Player of the Year.
Huyen Le (Vietnam), a first-year student-athlete from George Brown, is the OCAA Women's Badminton Player of the Year. Le defeated teammate and two-time defending OCAA champion Anh Hoang (Vietnam) 21-10, 21-14 in the women's singles first-place match at East Regionals. Her overall record was 5-0, helping George Brown win the women's team title. Le is an OCAA All-Star, a Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) All-Canadian, and a nominee for the National Women's Player of the Year.
Conestoga's Roselyn Bevis is the OCAA Coach of the Year. Bevis saw her men's team finish two points behind first-place Humber at the West Regionals, with five of her student-athletes advancing to provincials. OCAA All-Star Pranav Satheesh (Kitchener, Ont.) won the men's singles competition, Rhaea Visto (Kitchener, Ont.) and Christian Hill (Aylesford, N.S.) placed second in mixed doubles, while David Lewis (Cambridge, Ont.) and Suhail Mohammed (Cambridge, Ont.) placed third in men's doubles.
The majority of OCAA All-Stars finished in first place at their respective regionals in their respective disciplines. Along with Taneja, Touray, Le and Satheesh, also named OCAA All-Stars were Fanshawe's Glyvette Etis (Philippines); George Brown's Areej Shalwani (Pakistan); Georgian's Kiersten Hillman (Bracebridge, Ont.) and Paige Hillman (Bracebridge, Ont.); Humber's Desmond Chan (Mississauga, Ont.), Victoria Duong (Kitchener, Ont.), Ramnish Kumar (India), Susanna Quach (Vaughan, Ont.) and Chloe Rowe (Newcastle, Ont.); and Seneca's Poy Lo (Markham, Ont.), Saatvik Mahajan (India), Christine Nguyen (Whitby, Ont.) and Mohammed Faizan Shaikh (India).
Seneca was honoured as men's team champions from East Regionals, while George Brown was given the women's team championship. Humber received recognition as the men's and women's team champions from the West Regionals.
2019-20 OCAA BADMINTON MAJOR AWARDS
OCAA Men's Player of the Year
Arpit Taneja, Humber
OCAA Women's Player of the Year
Huyen Le, George Brown
OCAA Coach of the Year
Roselyn Bevis, Conestoga
OCAA Regional Men's Team Champions
East: Seneca Sting
West: Humber Hawks
OCAA Regional Women's Team Champions
East: George Brown Huskies
West: Humber Hawks
OCAA All-Stars
Desmond Chan, Humber
Victoria Duong, Humber
Glyvette Etis, Fanshawe
Kiersten Hillman, Georgian
Paige Hillman, Georgian
Ramnish Kumar, Humber
Huyen Le, George Brown
Poy Lo, Seneca
Saatvik Mahajan, Seneca
Christine Nguyen, Seneca
Susanna Quach, Humber
Chloe Rowe, Humber
Pranav Satheesh, Conestoga
Mohammed Faizan Shaikh, Seneca
Areej Shalwani, George Brown
Arpit Taneja, Humber
Ayubu Touray, Humber
- OCAA -
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