Badminton
March 5, 2012
Eagles Win CCAA National Bronze in Men’s Doubles
METRO VANCOUVER (March 5, 2011)
--Four Kwantlen Polytechnic University Athletes from the varsity
badminton team returned back from Kamloops on Sunday afternoon; two,
bringing back the University's third CCAA National Medal in Badminton in
three consecutive championships. Willis Kwee (Richmond) and Andy Wong
(Vancouver) won a bronze medal in men’s doubles, defeating the team from
the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT), representing the
Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC).Kwee and Wong began their national campaign in impressive form on day one of the championships, defeating the eventual gold medallists from Douglas College, Simon Wu and Lou Wei, in three sets [15-21, 21-16, 22-20]. They completed the team tie competition with a 4-1 record, moving them into a semi-final matchup against the team of Wu and Lei, and a 2nd place ranking.
The semi-finals resulted in a tough defeat for the Eagles, losing in straight sets [12-21, 15-21] to the PACWEST duo of Wu and Wei representing Douglas College. In the playoff for bronze, the Eagles regained their composure and handily defeated the ACAC pair of Jonathan Chang and Jason Chou in two sets [21-15, 21-10] to take home the bronze in men’s doubles.
Reflecting upon their result, fourth year student-athlete Wills Kwee said, "Even though we're disappointed with our results, we're glad to have a spot on the podium." “We will continue to train hard to bring the championship banner back to Kwantlen next year."
Third year student-athlete Michelle Simard (Surrey), who is no stranger to CCAA National Competition, having competed at the last three CCAA National Championships with three different partners, teamed up with first year student-athlete Bradley Low (Vancouver) and fought through to the bronze medal playoff in mixed doubles. They were defeated in straight sets by the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) [21-15, 21-10].
To view the final championship results, visit http://www.ccaabadminton2012.ca/
The Eagles completed a successful 2011-2012 campaign, finishing in 4th place in the team competition in the Pacific Western Athletic Association (PACWEST), with two silver medals; one in men’s doubles and mixed doubles, and advancing four athletes to the CCAA Badminton National Championships to represent the PACWEST host team.
Kwantlen Polytechnic University has been serving the Metro Vancouver region for 30 years, and has opened doors to success for more than 200,000 people. Four campuses—Richmond, Surrey, Cloverdale and Langley—offer a comprehensive range of sought-after programs, including business, liberal arts and science, design, health, trades and technology, apprenticeships, horticulture, and academic and career advancement. Over 17,000 students annually have a choice from over 135 programs, including bachelor’s degrees, associate degrees, diplomas, certificates and citations.
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For more information about the Kwantlen Eagles, contact:
Elise Le Brun
Director, Athletics & Recreation
Tel: 604.599.2005
elise.lebrun@kwantlen.ca
For more information about Kwantlen, contact:
Joanne Saunders
Director, Marketing and Communications
Tel: 604.599.2243
joanne.saunders@kwantlen.ca
February 20, 2012
Kwantlen Eagles Badminton Flying off to Nationals
METRO VANCOUVER, BC – (February 20, 2012) – The Kwantlen Eagles Badminton Team travelled to Kamloops, BC for the 2012 PACWEST Provincial Championships this past weekend hosted at Thompson Rivers University. Through a grueling and long two-day competition that involved multiple round-robin matches in individual as well as team play, the Eagles rallied hard to send four athletes; Michelle Simard (Surrey) and Bradley Low (Vancouver) in Mixed doubles, and Wilis Kwee (Richmond) and Andy Wong (Vancouver) in Men’s Doubles, as members of Team BC #2 to the 2012 Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) National Championships. As the host province for the CCAA National Championships, the PACWEST Conference qualifies to send two teams; Team BC #1 and Team BC #2, in each category of singles and doubles competition.
Day 1 of competition involved the team play portion of the Provincial Championships. The Kwantlen Eagles tallied a total of 192 cumulative points during the Provincial Championships and won a total of 12 matches and 3 rounds to lock the team in fourth place out of six teams behind Douglas College (386 points), Capilano University (322 points), and Langara College (258 points). The Eagles defeated TRU (3-2), Capilano University (3-2), and VIU (4-1) and lost rounds to Douglas College (0-5) and Langara College (2-3). The turning point came in the second round when the Eagles defeated second seeded team, Capilano University, 3 games to 2 thanks to the tenacity of Even Tong (2 straight sets) and Andy Wong (2 – 1) in their respective matches. The Men’s Doubles duo of Bradley Low (Vancouver) and Jamie Arseneau (Surrey) also came to the aid of the team winning their match 2 games to 1. The strong showing of the Eagles this past weekend moved the team, collectively, into fourth place in the cumulative PACWEST season rankings with a total of 703 points; overtaking former 4th place institution, Thompson Rivers University (683 points), and dropping the Wolf Pack into fifth place.
Day 2 of the Championships involved Individual play in all singles and double categories. Fourth-year athlete, David Dryden (Richmond), placed fifth in men’s singles after defeating rival James Huumo (Capilano University) in three sets (21-16, 21-23, 21-15). In women’s singles, first-year student-athlete, Zerlinda Chau (Surrey), placed fifth after defeating VIU’s Lindsay Ward in two straight sets (21-19, 21-14).
The first of Kwantlen’s National berths came in the Men’s Doubles with fourth-year veteran, Willis Kwee (Richmond) paired
with second-year, Andy Wong (Vancouver). With the veteran mentoring the greenhorn, Kwee and Wong took silver losing to Douglas College’s Luo Wei and Simon Wu but winning their games against Capilano (21-17, 17-21, 21-17) and against VIU (21-11, 21-11) and still earning a trip to the CCAA National Championships. The Eagles would rally around the Mixed Doubles Team comprised of third-year athlete, Michelle Simard (Surrey), and first-year, Bradley Low (Vancouver), who had a great round-robin tournament losing to Douglas College’s Charmagne Yeung and Logan Campbell taking silver place and another berth for the Eagles at the National Championships. Simard and Low rallied for four wins including a forfeit from Langara in order to secure their spot at the National Championships. Simard is no stranger to National Championships as she goes three for three as a student-athlete. Simard has qualified for every National Championship since becoming a student-athlete in badminton winning a bronze in 2010 in Women’s Doubles, placing fifth in Women’s Doubles in 2011 and now qualifying in Mixed Doubles.
In other team competition action, Kwantlen’s Women’s Doubles team of Janessa Royer (Delta) and Even Tong (Surrey) placed a respectable fourth place losing to Douglas College, Capilano University, and TRU but defeating Langara (21-13, 19-21, 21-12) and VIU (21-12, 21-17).
“The team did well at the Provincials in both the team and individual competitions. We came in 4th as a team for the competition and overall for the season,” stated Head Coach, Morgan van Huekelom. “Everyone improved over the course of the season and played well. [We] play and compete well together and support each other throughout practice as well as in competition.”
The Eagles will represent Kwantlen Polytechnic University at the CCAA National Championships being held at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, BC from March 1st – 3rd, 2012 and go into the Championships ranked 14th overall in the CCAA rankings list.
Complete game results can be found at: www.kwantlen.ca/eagles
October 25, 2011
Eagles Show Promise in the First 2011-2012 PACWEST Badminton Tournament
METRO VANCOUVER (October 24, 2011) – With a new head coach and eight new players on the 2011-2012 Eagles roster, Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s badminton team tested its skill at the first PACWEST badminton tournament hosted by Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo this past weekend and exhibited some great potential for the upcoming season.
The line-up for the Eagles at this event featured returnees Willis Kwee (Richmond) Michelle Simard (Surrey), Janessa Royer (Delta), James Arseneau (Surrey) and David Dryden (Surrey) who joined forces with five new Eagles; Andy Wong (Vancouver), Bradley Low (Richmond), Zerlinda Chau (Surrey), Simran Devgun (Surrey) and Christine Lin (Surrey).
In the round-robin team event, Kwantlen finished in 5th place overall behind Douglas College, Langara College, Capilano University and Thompson Rivers University.
Bradley Low (Richmond) had a solid rookie performance at the tournament. Low competed in the men’s doubles portion of the tie competition against Langara with seasoned veteran Willis Kwee, and helped the Eagles outlast the Falcons to win in 3 sets.
Although the game wasn’t a deciding factor in the tie, the men’s doubles game in the team competition against Capilano was a real nail biter. Kwee and Low forced the Capilano duo of Mark Chang and Tony Chen to 3 sets, but fell short in the 3rd (20-22, 23-21, 23-25).
Another feature match for the Eagles was in the Pool A mixed doubles final featuring fourth-year Willis Kwee and third-year Michelle Simard versus Douglas College’s Simon Wu and Amy Leung. After winning the first set and losing the second, Simard and Kwee fought back and battled through the third set (21-8, 14-21, 12-18).
“Even though we finished in 5th place, the 2nd to 5th teams were really competitive”, said head coach Morgan van Huekelom. “We beat the team that eventually came in 2nd place [Langara] which means that we have the potential to finish in the top two.”
The Eagles next take to the court on November 25-26 at Capilano University for the 2nd PACWEST tournament, hosted by Langara College.
Fans can catch the tournament results at www.pacwestbc.ca
