General

Canadian Badminton Roster for the Summer Universiade

May 14, 2015

Three FISU veterans highlight Canadian badminton roster

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

2015 Summer Universiade

May14, 2015

OTTAWA (CIS) – Canadian Interuniversity Sport, in conjunction with Badminton Canada, announced Thursday the 10 student-athletes who will represent Canada in badminton at the 2015 Summer Universiade in Gwangju, South Korea (July 3-14).

Gwangju 2015 website: www.gwangju2015.com

Team Canada website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/universiade/summer/2015/index

The Gwangju badminton tournament will run from July 6 to 12. All finals are set for July 12 with exception of the women’s and men’s finals in team competition, set for July 8.

Canada will compete in the sport at the Universiade for the third time, after 2007 in Bangkok and 2013 in Kazan, Russia.

Highlighting the delegation headed for South Korea are three returnees from the 2013 squad, including Stéphanie Pakenham of Quebec City, Philippe Charron of Montreal and Philippe Gaumond of Saint-Hyacinthe, Qué., all former under-23 national champions.

Still looking for its first medal in badminton at the biennial FISU Games, Canada reached the round of 32 in numerous events in Kazan, including women’s singles (Pakenham), men’s singles (Gaumond), women’s doubles (Pakenham), men’s doubles (Charron/Gaumond) and mixed doubles (Charron). The Canucks also took 14th place in team competition.

Rounding out the men’s roster for the Gwangju Games are Alexis Gohier-Drolet of Laval, Que., Maxime Marin of Montreal and Maxime Tétreault of Drummondville, Que.

In women’s action, Caroline Beauregard of Saint-Hyacinthe, Joanne Chen of Vancouver, Vicky Girard of Rigaud, Que., and Tracy Wong of Richmond Hill, Ont., join Pakenham on the lineup.

A member of the senior national team, Charron is the most experienced member of the group. A silver medallist in doubles and mixed doubles at the 2014 Canadian championships, the 25-year-old University of Montreal student also competed at a pair of FISU world university championships in 2014 in Cordoba, Spain, and in 2012 in Gwangju, where he helped Canada to a sixth-place finish in the team standings.

Gaumond, Marin, Tétreault, Pakenham and Wong were also at the last FISU championships in Spain.

In South Korea, the red and white delegation will be coached by Canadian badminton legend Denyse Julien. Between 1981 and 2004, the three-time Olympian (1992, 1996, 2004) captured an impressive 31 national championship titles, an all-time record.

“The main objective of the athletes who will represent Canada at the 2015 Universiade is to leave everything on the court in every match,” said Julien, who will double as the team leader in Gwangju. “We will compete against world powerhouses and I expect solid performances from our athletes.”

CANADIAN ROSTER

Name University/College Hometown Event(s)

Women

Caroline Beauregard Montreal Saint-Hyacinthe, Que. WD & XD

Joanne Chen Toronto Vancouver, B.C. WD

Vicky Girard Dawson College Rigaud, Que. WD

Stéphanie Pakenham Laval Quebec City, Que. WS & XD

Tracy Wong Humber College Richmond Hill, Ont. WS & WD

Men

Philippe Charron Montreal Montreal, Que. MD, XD

Philippe Gaumond UQAM Saint-Hyacinthe, Que. MS & MD

Alexis Gohier-Drolet UQAM Laval, Que. MS

Maxime Marin Laval Montreal, Que. MD & XD

Maxime Tétreault Montreal Drummondville, Que. MD

Manager / Coach: Denyse Julien, Badminton Canada (Rouyn-Noranda, Que.)

About the Summer Universiade

The Summer Universiade is an international multi-sport event that takes place every two years and is second only to the Olympic Games in the number of participating athletes and countries. The Universiade is open to competitors who are at least 17 and less than 28 years of age as of January 1 in the year of the Games. Participants must be full-time students at a post-secondary institution (university, college, CEGEP) or have graduated from a post-secondary institution in the year preceding the event.

About Canadian Interuniversity Sport

Canadian Interuniversity Sport is the national governing body of university sport in Canada. Every year, over 11,500 student-athletes and 700 coaches from 56 universities and four regional associations vie for 21 national championships in 12 different sports. CIS also provides high performance international opportunities for Canadian student-athletes at Winter and Summer Universiades, as well as numerous world university championships. For further information, visit www.cis-sic.ca or follow us on:

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-CIS-

For more information:

Stéphane Jobin

Communications Manager

Team Canada – 2015 Summer Universiade

Off: 418-656-5292

Cell: 418-572-7325

stephane.jobin@sas.ulaval.ca