The King's University hosted the ACAC's first Badminton Tournament of the year. NAIT Ooks, Concordia Thunder, Olds Broncos, and, of course, your King's Eagles competed this weekend. The Eagles took an early soar to the top in the tournament's first event: Men's Singles. Narayan Ramdhani, a fourth-year out of Georgetown, Guyana demanded the spotlight in the championship round. He faced Smit Patel from NAIT and the two athletes competed in a hard-fought battle. Narayan won the first set 21-12, but Smit bounced back and took set two 15-21. The third and final set was one to remember. As Narayan put it, "A moment of opportunity presented itself and I came in clutch." The score was 20-19, match point for Narayan. Everyone's undivided attention was focused on his court as the potential final serve was being made. Narayan returned the serve and Smit let it hit the ground hoping it would be called out. Narayan won the final 21-19.
Representing King's at the Women's Singles event was Cecilia Wolski. Coming in, Cecilia was ranked second for Women's Singles. She faced Ivy Ung from NAIT and defeated her in two matches (21-10 and 21-14, respectively). She then went up against Ellis Connelly from Concordia. Cecilia was on a roll and bested her 21-5 in match one and 21-7 in the second match. To get to the Women's Singles championship round, Cecilia met Jasleen Kuhr from the Thunder's roster in the qualifier. After a hard-fought battle, Jasleen Kuhr won in two sets and got the opportunity to play for the championship.
In the Men's Doubles event, Fitz Galang paired with Aakash Panchal and David Jay paired with Alex Stewart. Fitz and Aakash looked to get ahead of the competition by winning their first game against the Broncos, Tye Belanger and Brayden Berdahl. In two sets Fitz and Aakash secured the win and moved on and played in the round-robin. They lost their next two games which placed them fourth in Men's Doubles. On the other side of the net, David and Alex faced NAIT in their qualifying match and reached deep in their bag of tricks to win in two intense matches (21-19 and 22-20, respectively). In the championship round they met Patel and Shivansh from NAIT. Once again they won in two sets and claimed championship status in the Men's Doubles event.
Abigail Ledda paired with Cecilia Wolski and Makayla Basque paired with Erica Jorgensen represented King's in the Women's Doubles event. In the first round, they faced each other and Abigail and Cecilia took this win to move on to the championship round. Erica and Makayla then went up against Concordia Thunder but lost in two sets. The Concordia players, Jasleen Kaur and Johnna Rymes met Abigail and Cecilia in the finals. Your Eagles ended with second and third place in the Women's Doubles event. After the event, Cecilia talked about her experience in the championship match and noted "it was an intense game. I am proud of how Abby and I did… I'm really looking forward to how we're going to train to see them again."
In the final event, Mixed Doubles, the Eagles had Narayan with Abigail, Aakash partnered with Erica, and Fitz with Chanel competing for a championship. Fitz and Chanel won their first match against Concordia but lost their following two games which placed them fourth. Aakash and Erica also faced the Thunder and defeated them in two sets, both matches ending in 21-8. They then met Narayan and Abigail to qualify for the championship round. Narayan and Abigail ended up taking this win which moved them to play for championship status. Aakash and Erica finished mixed doubles in third place. The championship match was set and everyone was excited to see a rematch between Narayan and Patel. However, Smit and Ivy Ung had to forfeit the match due to an injury Smit suffered earlier in the day. Narayan and Abigail finished the mixed doubles event with a walkover.
Overall the King's University Badminton team had a very successful tournament. Narayan Ramdhani placing first in both Men's Singles and Mixed Doubles gave King's a big lead. David Jay and Alex Stewart placing first in Men's Doubles was also massive news for King's because King's has never won a Men's Doubles event. This tournament was historic for King's as for the first time ever they finished the weekend with the most points. Cecilia Wolski and Alex Stewart's performance earned them King's Athlete of the week.
In a post-tournament interview, Narayan Ramdhani expanded on his experience playing on home court, "We've been training so hard last semester so it's great that we got to play here for the first tournament and show that King's Badminton is here to stay." In the same interview, Cecilia said "Everyone left [the tournament] saying 'we did amazing but here's what we need to do for the next one,' and I'm looking forward to seeing how we all play in the next tournament." King's Badminton this year looks and feels very strong. Every player's hard work and dedication is paying off and it showed in this historic tournament. When asked about the team's goals, Coach Naeem said "To win the Provincial championship. [I am] very proud of my team winning the first tournament. They are focused on their goal."