David Thompson 6 - 5 Killarney
Led by bantam ace Michelle Yeung and senior Martin Low, the David Thompson Trojans leapt to a 5-0 record and handed the Killarney Cougars their first defeat of the season in badminton April 16 at Killarney.
The East Division clash between the undefeated teams Wednesday afternoon was the toughest of the season for the rivals who will likely hold the top two spots in the East Division heading into the city championships in three weeks.
“They are our biggest rivals of the past four years,” said Trojan coach and Thompson grad, Julian Wong.
Between the two teams, eight student-athletes have competed at the Canadian junior national championships, including Low and his brother Michael, Yeung and Rocky Ken from Thompson as well as Simon Chang, Felix Law, Jeffrey So and Haydn Yee from Killarney.
“All the national level players on our team can play singles, doubles and mixed [doubles],” said Cougars co-coach Ringo Tang, a Killarney graduate.
The Trojans’ Yeung, 13, is B.C.’s second-ranked player in her age group and trains with the Vancouver club Ace Badminton. She won her singles match 21-13, 21-10 by smartly toying with her opponent.
“I moved her around the court,” said Yeung. “It feels awesome to win.”
Low and his doubles partner won both their doubles matches in three sets, including a gripping game against Cougars Law and Yee, who won the final four points of the second set to force a tiebreaker. The Trojans won 21-15, 17-21, 21-18.
Killarney held on for a seven-game winning streak last year and won last year’s meeting with Thompson on their way to the city finals, where they lost 6-5 to Prince of Wales.
“I have been coaching for four or five years,” said Killarney’s Tang. “I never won city’s as a player and I want that for them.”
This year however, the Trojans are the team to beat. The coaches, Wong and Anthony Li, both graduated from Thompson and want the city title for their alma mater.
“We have a lot of graduates this year and we want them to have the opportunity to win a banner,” said Wong.
In the West Division, undefeated Prince of Wales (3-0) has a game in hand but is tied at six points with Churchill (3-1) and Point Grey (3-1).
The team that wins the city championships, held May 6 to 9, qualifies directly for provincials May 29 to 31 in Richmond. The second- and third-place teams from Vancouver, Richmond and Burnaby advance to Lower Mainland playoffs along with the winner of the private school league.
At provincials, the hybrid team of St. George’s and Crofton House have won the B.C. title twice in the past three years.
