OUA BADMINTON CROWNS 2011 CHAMPIONS THIS WEEKEND
HAMILTON, Ont. – The Waterloo Warriors look to defend their Ontario University Athletics (OUA) title as they participate in the 2011 OUA Badminton Championship, hosted by The University of Western Ontario.
The three day event that runs from Friday March 18 to Sunday March 20 will see seven teams take to the court in search of gold. With no playoff or cross-over elimination this year McMaster, Queen’s, Ryerson, Toronto, Waterloo, Western, and York all have the chance to take home the title.
The championship consists of five events: men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles. Each event consists of a qualification draw and a main event championship draw.
History will be on the side of both the Western Mustangs and Waterloo Warriors on Sunday, having faced each other in the last seven OUA finals.
Outside of Western and Waterloo, the Toronto Varsity Blues was the last team to win the championship in 2003. The Blues roster has a few vacancies from last season’s bronze medal team. They will play without 2009-10 OUA female most valuable player Shilin Cheung and female rookie of the year, Michelle Li. Not a problem for the Toronto women, as eight-time OUA all-star Melissa Hill (Oakville, Ont.) once again returns to the court.
The York Lions and Queen’s Gaels are the two other teams to have won the league championship in 1998-99 and 1997-98, respectively.
When the competition was still split into a men’s league and a women’s league, the McMaster Marauders took the 1977-78 women’s title. The Marauders return last year’s McMaster badminton most valuable player Allison Bennett (Oakville, Ont.).
The Ryerson Rams are the only team competing this weekend without a badminton title, and hope to upset the field. The duo of Kyle Wong Chew Onn (Markham, Ont.) and Thai Truong (Cornwall, Ont.) are strong for the Rams in men’s doubles. They’ll look to continue on their success from November’s Toronto City College/University Challenge where they won their match over York.
The 2011 OUA Badminton Championship takes place from March 18-20 at Thames Hall on The University of Western Ontario campus. The event is open to all spectators and free of charge. Results will be posted each day on the Ontario badminton Association website: http://www.ontariobadminton.on.ca/ and on the Western Mustangs website: http://westernmustangs.ca.
Friday, March 18
12 p.m. - Qualification Rounds - singles (male and female)
5 p.m. - Qualification Rounds - doubles (male and female)
Saturday, March 19
9 a.m. - On Court Warm Up
10 a.m. - Qualification Rounds - mixed doubles
2 p.m. - Main Event preliminary rounds
Sunday, March 20
9 a.m. - On Court Warm
10 a.m. - Main Event Semifinals (all events)
12:30 p.m. - Main Event Finals (all events)
3 p.m. - Awards Presentation
