SUDBURY, Ont. - The 44 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 in Sudbury, Ont.
The top three singles players and doubles teams from each discipline at the two regionals advance to provincials, being hosted by Seneca College from Feb. 17-18 at the KC Badminton Club in Aurora, Ont. The east regional was hosted by Collège Boréal, while Cambrian College was the site of the west regional.
MEN'S SINGLES
Fanshawe's Arpitraj Sinha (Markham) went undefeated at the west regionals with a record of 6-0, edging Conestoga's Sadik Ali (Kitchener) who went 5-1. Sinha's Fanshawe teammate Michael Gao (China) also qualified for provincials with a record of 4-2.
This trio will be joined by east regional qualifiers Colin Zhou (China) and Vishal Dave (India) of Centennial as well as Nadeem Nahaz (Bahrain) of St. Lawrence. Zhou went undefeated at 5-0, Dave went 4-1 and Nahaz had a record of 4-2.
Sinha was a silver medalist in men's doubles competition at the OCAA championships last season, going on to win a bronze medal at nationals.
WOMEN'S SINGLES
India was well represented on the women's singles podium at the west regionals. Devika Kumar (India) of Conestoga grabbed top billing going undefeated at 6-0. Humber's Zeel Rohit (India) earned a provincials berth with a 5-1 record, and will be joined by fellow country person Fanshawe's Zoya Virk (India) who went 4-2.
The three women's singles entrants at the east regionals will all compete at provincials. Seneca's Moti Shams (Richmond Hill) had a record of 2-0 and will be joined by George Brown's Thanawadee Kochapanya (Toronto) who went 1-1, and Ivy Wong (Hong Kong) of Centennial who went 0-2.
Virk is the reigning OCAA bronze medalist in women's singles competition.
MEN'S DOUBLES
Anthony Tso (Markham) and Kevin Himanshu Shah (India) of Seneca won the men's doubles competition out of the east region with a perfect mark of 4-0. St. Lawrence's Brandon Watkins (Finch) and Afsar Chowdury (Kingston) with a record of 3-1, and Adam Wilson (Bowmanville) and Brandon Cheung (Scarborough) of Centennial with a mark of 2-2, also advance to provincials.
Humber's duo of Nishant Batra (India) and Sirapob Kongubon (Thailand) won the men's doubles competition at west regionals with a unblemished 4-0 record. They will be joined at provincials by Cambrian's Dominik Brunette-Royer (Sudbury) and Robin Davis (India) who placed second with a record of 3-1, along with Conestoga's Kevin Jos Maria Joseph (India) and Sandeep Suresh (India), who went 2-2.
The men's doubles field at provincials is well-decorated. Tso is one half of the reigning OCAA and national gold medalists in men's doubles and is one step closer to a repeat with a new partner. Batra and Kongubon were each bronze and gold doubles medalists, respectively, at the OCAA championships last year, with Kongubon winning a national gold medal in mixed doubles. Cheung earned an OCAA bronze medal in mixed doubles in 2020.
WOMEN'S DOUBLES
Humber's Victoria Duong (Kitchener) and Airi Moromisato (Peru) went 3-0 in the women's doubles competition at west regionals to secure their spot at provincials. The Fanshawe duo of Morgan Grant (Thamesville) and Mook Prasarn (Thailand) went 2-1 while Conestoga's Marla Betts (Sudbury) and Sarah Dirkse (Cambridge) also advanced with a 1-2 mark.
Only one women's doubles team entered the field at the east regionals, with Seneca's Danessa Griffith (Toronto) and Danielle Yanes (Toronto) getting an automatic berth to provincials.
Duong is a four-time OCAA medalist and will now compete for a third gold medal in women's doubles competition. Moromisato won OCAA gold in mixed doubles play last year. Both Duong and Moromisato have also won a combined three national gold medals. Prasarn won OCAA bronze last year in women's doubles.
MIXED DOUBLES
Humber made it a clean sweep atop the podium in the west regionals doubles competition as Thanh Lam (Toronto) and Glorinelle Questin (Brampton) went 3-0 in mixed doubles play. They will be joined by Fanshawe's Aniket Ramrupwad (London) and Kendra McCoy (Bancroft) who went 2-1, and Conestoga's Ethan Troupe (Baden) and partner Carly Thompson (Seaforth) who went 1-2.
Monique Lee (Hong Kong) and Sarthak Arora (India) of George Brown won the mixed doubles competition at east regionals with a mark of 3-0. The Seneca duo of Mehak Chawla (India) and Dhruv Taneja (India) placed second with a record of 2-1, while Centennial's Ninh Le (Toronto) and Deniese Scott (Jamaica) went 2-1.
Arora won an OCAA bronze medal in men's singles competition last season.
Team titles were also awarded at each regional. Centennial won the men's title at the east regionals, while Seneca took the women's title. Fanshawe won the men's title at the west regionals, while Humber took the women's title.
The OCAA championships is a round robin format within each discipline, with the top four advancing to semi-finals, leading into bronze and gold medal matches. Of the 44 competitors, over half (26) are first-year collegiate student-athletes.
The OCAA gold and silver medalists will advance to the 2023 Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association Badminton National Championships from Mar. 8-11 in Truro, N.S.
- OCAA -
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