Events

What an exciting end to the 2015 Canadian National College-University Championships! The high caliber badminton on display throughout this tournament demonstrates just how strong collegiate badminton is in Canada. The athletes who came to compete in Drummondville are some of the very best in the nation, and it was an honour and privilege to watch them play.

 

In the Mixed Doubles final, 5/8 seeds Philippe Charron and Caroline Beauregard faced off against the tournament’s top seeds Maxime Marin and Stephanie Pakenham. Charron and Beauregard demonstrated tremendous skill and athleticism, winning the match with a decisive 21-8, 21-10 victory that earned them the tournament’s first gold medal finish.

 

After Alexis Gohier-Drolet ousted top seed Félix Deblois-Beaucage in the quarter finals for Men’s Singles on Saturday, the stage was set for him to take gold in the final match against the unseeded Philippe Gaumond. Their first game was a real nail biter, stretching to 24-22 in Gaumond’s favour. Gohier-Drolet fought just as hard in the second game, but ultimately lost out to Gaumond’s swift racquet as the latter clinched a gold medal with a 21-14 victory.

 

A similar story played out in the Women’s Singles final, where the unseeded Tracy Wong (who beat out top seed Bethany So in the semi finals) was poised to take gold in her match against number two seed Stephanie Pakenham. Both Wong and Pakenham were in top form throughout the match, which was painfully close. In the end, however, Pakenham scored a 22-20, 21-18 victory and took home the gold.

 

Earlier that afternoon, Wong had knocked out another top seed in the Women’s Doubles semi finals. Together with her partner Joanne Chen, Wong defeated number one seeds Anne-Julie Beaulieu and Stephanie Pakenham to earn a place in the finals. Number two seeds Caroline Beauregard and Vicky Girard made quick work of their opponents in the quarter and semi finals to advance to the gold medal match against Wong and Chen later that afternoon. It was another painfully close match that saw some excellent badminton played by both sides, but Beauregard and Girard took the gold in the end with a 22-20, 21-19 win over the unseeded hopefuls.

 

Men’s Doubles top seeds Philippe Gaumond and Maxime Marin progressed through the preliminaries, quarters, and semi finals with relative ease Sunday morning. The unseeded Philippe Charron and Maxime Tétreault, who beat out number two seeds Andy Ko and Nathan Osborne in the semi finals, joined Gaumond and Marin in the gold medal match.  Both teams played a fierce physical game, and after the first 21-14 victory went to Charron and Tétreault, Gaumond and Marin fought back to take the second game 21-14 as well. Exhausted but determined, both teams began the third and final game determined to take gold. Charron and Tétreault came out victorious, with a 21-18 win over the tournament’s number one seeds.

 

For the gold medalists at the 2015 Canadian National College-University Championships, victory brought an even greater reward than gold. The winner of each Individual Event has been invited by Badminton Canada to represent Canada at the 2015 Summer Universiade in Gwangiu, South Korea from July 3 to 14. This is a tremendous opportunity for these deserving young players, and will also serve to develop our collegiate badminton athletes so that they may reach their full potential and continue winning medals for Canada on the world stage.