Last spring, the UW badminton team fell to a dominant University of Toronto Varsity Blues squad in the final of the OUA Championships. After watching Toronto raise their fourth-straight provincial banner, the Warriors were extra-motivated to get their hands on the gold medal this year.
Unfortunately, the team once again came just short of that goal, losing a tight semifinal match to Western before defeating Ottawa in the bronze medal match.
UW began the day by dominating their group in round-robin play, defeating the York Lions, Carleton Ravens, and Ottawa Gee-Gees by a combined score of 30-0. With six wins, rookie Sherry Wu led the way for the Warriors. Wu dropped only a single game and outscored her opponents 271-151.
On the men’s side, Clement Chow was a perfect five-for-five in his round-robin play. Chow outscored his opponents by an average margin of 19 points and did not lose a single game. Harry Soo, Frankie Cao, and Kevin Wang were outstanding too, as each of them won all four of their matches without dropping a game.
After finishing on top of Group B, UW took on the Western Mustangs in their semi-final match. Unfortunately, the Mustangs won the tight match 6-4 to secure a berth in the finals, sending the Warriors to the third-place playoff.
The doubles teams of Maggie Wong and Natalie Lam, Justin Law and Kyle To, as well as Wu and Lam in singles play, earned the points for the Warriors.
The Warriors handled Ottawa to earn their bronze medal, defeating the Gee-Gees 6-1.
Wu was honoured as the OUA Rookie of Year and an OUA all-star after finishing the tournament an impressive 5-0 in singles and 4-1 in doubles. Kevin Wang earned all-star status as well, finishing the tournament a combined 4-1 in singles and doubles play.
