2016-17 ACAC Badminton Championship Preview
by ACAC Sports Writer Curtis J. Phillips
Chan, Huang , Ko, Kuramochi, Rausch, Roque, Smillie, Wadia and Wang are the names that pop up a lot in the winner's bracket when you look at results from the three Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) badminton tournaments leading up to this weekend's ACAC Championships to be held in Olds, Alberta and hosted by the Olds College Broncos.
With four ACAC schools participating in the sport, the NAIT Ooks hold a huge points spread with 281 points, compared to second place Concordia University of Edmonton Thunder's 170 points.
The Kings University Eagles and Olds College Broncos have 60 and 44 points respectively.
Being at the top of ACAC Badminton is nothing new for the Ooks as they are five-time ACAC team champion since 2008-2009 with the sport taking a hiatus from 2012-2014.
During this same time frame, they have captured four men's and three women's individual titles; three women's doubles, four mixed doubles and five men's doubles.
"With our rankings and past results we are very confident in the placement of our athletes this weekend," said Ooks head coach Sinead Cheah.
But do not count out the Olds Broncos, Kings Eagles and Concordia Thunder.
Men's Singles
Ooks' Irma Wadia won two of the three events with teammate Andy Ko getting the other W.
Transferring from Langara College in Vancouver, British Columbia, Wadia took a year off from schooling for 2015-2016 to concentrate on improving his game.
During this hiatus from the books, he competed in the Canadian badminton circuit which is sponsored in part by Yonex.
The year off seemed to help as according to Badminton Canada, in men's singles he went from a low ranking of 80 in 2015 to a high ranking of No. 10 near the end of 2016.
His highest polling for men's doubles was an impressive seventh on the circuit.
"Badminton is my passion," said Wadia, in a previous ACAC interview. "I want to get better and you never know, it could one day lead to the Olympics?"
Asked how Wadia will do in men's singles, Cheah replied: "We don't know who will be competing in what event until the day of the tournament for competitive reasons. What I can say is that Jason Rausch will be playing for sure (men's singles)."
Women's Singles
Three different winners in three different tournaments.
Thunders' Rachael Smillie, November 20, 2016 at NAIT; Ooks' Kaili Huang, January 22, 2017 at The Kings University and Thunders 'Takeisha Wang February 5, 2017 at Concordia University of Edmonton.
The 5-foot-3 Smillie is in her fourth year of ACAC competition, winning 2014-2015 gold in singles.
Huang, a third-year student athlete from Nanning, China, has captured back-to-back ACAC gold in women's doubles, teaming up with Seulbi Kim in 2016-2016 and Hellena Fedoretz in 2014-2015.
All three women medaled at the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) championships last year in Nanaimo, British Columbia with Smillie and Wang joining talents in women's doubles for a bronze performance while Huang was part of a gold team in the same event.
Also keep an eye on Ooks' Ryo Kuramochi (Chiba, Japan) who placed second in the opening two ACAC tournaments.
Cheah confirmed that Kuramoch will be listed in women's singles action.
Men's Doubles
Wadia's name pops up twice for tournament victories with Tyler Walsh as his teammate. In the other ACAC tournament they placed second, losing out to teammates Andy Ko and Nicholas Roque.
Roque teamed up with Jeffrey Ko to take second in the other two events.
Andy Ko and Roque are defending ACAC champions and earned a bronze at last year's CCAA championships.
Andy Ko has also medaled three other times in CCAA men's doubles; gold in 2015 with Sam Kim, silver in 2014 with Jake Perry and bronze in 2013 with Jason Chou.
Cheah says Jeffrey Ko will be competing in men's and mixed doubles for NAIT.
For The Kings University Eagles to medal they will look to the match-up of John Li and Joel Simrose or Ryan Gelderman and Alexei Walisser, who had a third and fourth showing to date.
"They all have a chance to win as any other team," said Eagles head coach Naeem Haque. "They are looking really good and hopefully one of them makes it to (CCAA) nationals."
Women's Doubles
In all three ACAC events leading up to this weekend, Smillie, placed second be it playing with Wang or Amanda Cao.
Wang meanwhile captured one title while pairing with Kassidy Turcotte.
The other two wins went to Ooks Rosanna Chan with Huang and Kuramochi teammates at different times.
Olds top finish in ACAC regular season was a fourth in this grouping with Broncos' Layce Donaldson and Sherry Hahn.
Eagles Abbey Gelderman and Annika Jacobsson also managed one fourth place showing but will be unable to hit the courts this weekend.
"Sad news," said Eagles coach Haque. "Annika (Jacobsson) broke her leg getting out of a truck last Friday. She stepped on some ice and slipped."
Gelderman will instead compete in women's singles and mixed doubles.
Mixed Doubles
Ooks' Andy Ko and Kuramochi captured two ACAC tournaments with the other going to Kuramochi and Jeffrey Ko.
Eagles Billy Kalisvaart Marya Abma had a fourth.
The ACAC are defending CCAA champions in mixed doubles with Ooks' Rosanna Chan and Sam Kim beating Humber College Hawks in 2016.
Of the overall outlook for the weekend Eagles Haque said: "NAIT is in a different league completely and Concordia is a strong team too. From day one our goal has been to beat Olds this season and we have done that. We have done great,"
Ooks are ranked No. 2 in recent CCAA polls with Concordia at No. 5.