Men's Badminton Athlete of the Week (10)
Jason Sun has dominated in the Men’s singles event throughout the season and this weekend’s PACWEST Championships proved his rank in this event. The 5’ 9” Falcon graduated from Earl Marriott high School and found his way to Langara for his first year.
Sun has won two PACWEST tournaments this year in men’s singles and this weekend he rose to the top going undefeated in the Team event with a record 4-0. In the individual event, Sun’s perseverance lead him to finish at the top with a Gold medal with a perfect 4-0 record beating opponents Darren Cho (Douglas) 21-15, 21-11; David Dryden (KPU) 21-11, 21-13; Joey Chu (TRU) 21-8, 21-10 and Pat Thompson (VIU) 21-18, 21-19. Sun has an overall win-loss record of 29-2 this season.
Jason Sun has played an integral part in leading the Falcons to a 2nd place Provincial standing this year. His hard work and dedication has earned him a golden ticket to represent BC at the upcoming CCAA National Badminton Championships in Ontario. He was also recently named CCAA badminton Athlete of the month for the PACWEST.
'Rookie Sensation' Nathan Choi led the Royals to victory in the team event with a perfect 4-0 record. Choi is a graduate of Magee Secondary (Vancouver) and is in his first year at Douglas.
On Saturday, the PACWEST held the team event for the 3rd and final league tournament of the season. Choi helped his team win the 4 rounds of team play. Choi was entered in and won the men’s doubles (round 1), and mixed doubles (rounds 2, 4 & 5)
On Sunday, the Individual portion of the tournament began. Choi was entered in both the Men’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles
Men’s Doubles (partner Wei Luo)
Pool Play defeated TRU (Chu/Woods) 21-14, 21-16
Pool Play defeated TRU (Lu/Nguyen) 21-10, 21-10
Semis defeated LC (Leung/Shurman) 21-17, 21-17
Final defeated KPU (Kwee/Wong) 21-8. 21-14
Mixed Doubles (partner Charmagne Yeung)
Pool Play defeated LC (Li/Chiang) 21-6. 21-11
Pool Play defeated VIU (Yim/Liew) 21-16, 21-11
Semis defeated TRU (Woods/Arduini) 21-17, 21-9
Final defeated LC (Jang/Downton) 21-14, 21-19
Choi completed his fine play by winning BOTH the Men's Doubles & Mixed Doubles events without losing a game. Choi now has 5 individual titles this season out of the 6 he has entered. His 12 wins and 0 loss extended his season record to 34 wins and 1 loss. "Nathan has a lot of skill and is very good at analyzing the opponents" commented Mawani. "He has the potential to represent Canada one day if he keeps working at his game" added Mawani.
Wei (Rey) Luo in his 3rd year at Douglas College and the PACWEST. Luo competed in Men’s Singles, Men’s Doubles (with Nathan Choi) and the Team Event leading the Royals to a perfect 4-0 record to win the team competition.
In the Team event, Luo / M. Chang defeated Wong / Kwee (Kwantlen) and Lai / Chiu (Langara). Luo also teamed up with Panizales to defeat Spencer / Foster (VIU).
In Men’s Singles, Luo was in ‘Pool 2’ with Pat Thompson (VIU and James Arseneau (KPU). After defeating both opponents, he went on to the Semis where he faced Matt Downton (Langara). Luo would take the match 21-12, 22-20 to advance to the finals vs Jason Sun (Langara). In the finals, Luo had a tough opponent but came out victorious with set scores of 20-22, 21-11, 21-18.
In Men’s Doubles, Luo teamed up with Nathan Choi to defeat Chu / Woods (TRU) and White / Yim (VIU) in ‘Pool 1’ to advance to the Semis. In the Semis Luo / Choi met up with Chung / Chen (KPU) and beat them 21-12, 21-15 to advance to the finals where the played Kwee / Wong (KPU). In a 3 set match, Luo / Choi won 16-21, 21-18, 21-5.
This completed a perfect weekend by winning the Men's singles, Men's doubles and Team event. Wei (Rey) Luo finished the weekend with a perfect 11 wins and 0 losses. "With dedication and hard work Rey has become the undisputed leader of the Men's team" commented coach Mawani. "He has worked hard to keep up his high standard of play as well as graduate from the EASL program" added Mawani.
Luke Couture had an impressive and exceptional finish at this weekends PACWEST Badminton Provincial Championships hosted by TRU. The weekend started with the team event on Saturday. Couture made tremendous contributions in the event to help his team secure a BRONZE medal finish, coming in close to beat 2nd team Capilano in a 3-way-tie.
In the individual event on Sunday, Luke was determined to dominate in his event, having lost to top seed Bob Sharma at the Douglas tournament in January placing 2nd. It has been a battle in Men’s Singles between the Royal and Falcon all season. In his first match against Mariner Bryan Cassels, Couture claimed his first win of the day in 3 sets 21-19, 12-21, 21-14. Not letting the 3 setter disappoint, he then went to beat TRU Wolfpack Joey Chu in 2 sets 21-14, 21-13. In his 3rd round, Luke went on to beat Eagles David Dryden convincingly 21-8, 21-8. On a winning streak, Luke then faced Capilano's James Huumo, beating him 21-7, 21-10. With victory on his side Luke was mentally prepared to grasp Championship Gold against rivalry Bob Sharma, a Douglas Royal. His determination and perseverance led him to beat Sharma in 3 hard fought sets winning 21-14, 19-21, 21-19. His hard work and dedication has earned him a golden ticket to represent BC at the upcoming CCAA National Badminton Championships at Thompson Rivers University in March.
Originally from India, Bob Sharma is in his first year at Douglas College and currently enrolled in the Communications Program. This past weekend, Sharma led the Royals to victory in the team competition with a perfect 5-0. He then continued his fine play on Saturday by finishing 8-0 to win the Men's Singles and Men's Doubles events. Sharma won his first event of the season by defeating Luke Couture, the #1 seed from Langara College in a thrilling 3 game final. After recovering from the singles final Sharma teamed up with Logan Campbell to win the Men's Doubles event to give him his 2nd event win of the season and a perfect 13 Wins and 0 Losses for the weekend. "The singles was a fantastic win for Bob as he has worked very hard the past 8 weeks and deserves the results" commented Royals coach Al Mawani, "He has learnt the benefits of training hard every training session".
Luke Couture enters the PACWEST Badminton Tournament #2 with a determination to dominate in his Singles event. In last months first PACWEST Tournament held at VIU, Couture finished 2nd in the Individual event, losing to Douglas’ Luo Wei. In the team event, he helped to lead his team to a 2nd place finish.
This past weekend, Couture competed in men’s singles in the team portion of the competition, finishing with a 4-1 record. In Round 1 vs TRU’s Dave Babichuk, Couture would win 23-21, 21-9. In Round 2 vs Capilano, Couture defeated David Khuong 21-7, 21-4. Round 3 saw another victory as Couture defeated David Dryden of Kwantlen. Round 4, Couture defeated Martin Haaf of VIU but it was Round 5 where Couture sputtered, losing to Douglas’ Bob Sharma with a score of 21-15, 18-21, 21-9.
Having lost to top player Bob Sharma from Douglas in 3 sets in the team event, Couture was eager to dominate in the individual event. Couture made it out of the Round Robin portion on the individual event where he once again faced Bob Sharma of Douglas in the Semi-finals. Couture would defeat Sharma in 2 sets, 21-18, 21-12. Having obtained his goal, Couture then met Kazys Tamasaukas from Capilano in the Finals winning his first event of the season, defeating Kazys 21-15, 21-18.
Rey Wei is in his 2nd year at Douglas College and continues to play a key role for the Royals. The Team Event was played on Friday and Saturday. Wei went undefeated in all 5 of his matches in the Team portion of Tournament #1. In Round 1 vs VIU, Wei was entered in men’s doubles with Logan Campbell defeating the host Cassels & Thompson of VIU 21-12, 21-18. In Round 2 vs Capilano, Wei was again entered in men’s doubles, this time with Simon Wu. Wei and Wu would defeat Capilano’s Chang and Chen 21-8, 21-10. In Round 3 vs TRU, Wei was paired once again with Simon Wu. Wei and Wu would defeat TRU’s Chu and Babichuk 16-21, 21-15, 21-13. In Round 4 vs Langara, Wei teamed up with Logan Campbell to defeat Langara’s Hooley and Latremouille 21-12, 21-12. In the 5th and Final round of team play vs Kwantlen, Wei was entered in Men’s Singles. He would defeat Simran Devgun 21-8, 21-8 to complete his perfect 5-0 record.
On Sunday there was no let up from him as he clinically went about his business winning the Men’s Singles event and then with his partner Logan Campbell, won the Men’s Doubles event without losing a game.
In Men’s Singles, advanced out of his pool defeating Pat Thompson (VIU) and Mark Chang (CAP) to advance to the Semi-Finals. In the Semis, Wei would play and defeat his Douglas teammate Bob Sharma 21-15, 21-18 to advance to the Finals. In the Finals, Wei defeated Langara’s Luke Couture 21-13, 21-10 to take the men’s Singles Event.
In Men’s Doubles, Wei partnered with Logan Campbell. Wei and Campbell would advance out of their pool defeating Langara and Kwantlen’s Men’s Doubles teams. In the Semi-Finals, Wei and Campbell defeated Capilano’s Change and Chen 21-12, 21-12 to advance to the Finals where they would meet up with Wu and Sharma, also of Douglas. The match was closely contested with Wei and Campbell taking it 22-20, 21-17.
Playing the maximum number of matches this past weekend, Wei finished with a perfect 13-0 record overall. He continues to work hard to develop his game and fitness as he looks to establish himself as a dominant player for the Royals.
Pierre Tang, a first year Falcon, came into the BCCAA Provincials determined to be in top contention for the upcoming Nationals in New Brunswick. His exceptional skill base, commitment and great vision on court paid off this weekend with a Gold Medal win (with partner Chris Chung) in the Men's Doubles individual event, earning a spot to represent team BC Gold at Nationals.
Tang and his partner were seeded 3rd coming into this past weekends tournament. They first beat Capilano pair convincingly 21-7, 21-9. They then encountered a slight hurdle facing a VIU duo losing the first set 17-21, but then picked themselves up winning the next 2 sets 21-9, 21-5. Next they had to face the seasons undefeated duo from Douglas College (Hong/Luo). Being the underdogs, Tang was not going to give up and pushed himself to the fullest, beating the top pair first set 21-10. Tang’s competitiveness and drive to succeed was evident when Tang/Chung put fate in their own hands. They claimed victory when they won a hard fought second set, 24-22, and became the first team to defeat the #1 Royals pair all season. Gold was within arms reach...but they still had to face #2 seed from Kwantlen (Wu/ Kwee) and TRU pair (Woods/ Chu). Having been beaten by the Kwantlen pair in Janurary at VIU, Tang was not going to lose his focus on Gold. It was a rocky start losing first set 14-21, but Tang's determination led his team to win the next 2 sets 22-20, 21-10. It was sweet gold victory when they finished off the tournament beating TRU duo 21-16, 21-15
Douglas College
Hong is a 4th year athlete from Calgary, Alberta. With the Christmas break, Hong and his Douglas teammates were looking forward to the BCCAA 3rd tournament. Hong also had just come off a fine semi-final showing in Toronto last week in a national ranking event.
Hong continued his best ever collegiate season with a fantastic weekend finishing with 2 titles (Men’s Doubles & Mixed Doubles) and a perfect 13 – 0 record.  Hong has now won ALL 4 individual competitions he has entered over the course of this three tournament season.  He Saturday played a big part in leading the Douglas College Royals to a perfect 5-0 standing to win the team event.  On Sunday he came out very strong and with his partners to win the Men’s Doubles (with Rey Luo) finishing with a perfect 4-0 & Mixed Doubles (Melody Liang) also finishing a perfect 4-0.