A smashing victory

It took eight years, but the Langara Falcons badminton team has once again brought home national gold after beating teams from around the country in the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association championships in Edmonton on March 1.

Falcons bring home the gold

The team performed remarkably as the Falcons’ Nathan Choi and Ashley Jang won gold in the mixed doubles division, Matt Chan won silver in men’s singles and Shurman Chan and Hugh Leung won silver in men’s doubles.

Both Choi and Jang faced tough competition to win gold. Battling Humber College for first place, the duo won the tight first set 21-17. They improved on that in the second set, winning 21-16 to bag the gold medal in straight sets.

“The feeling that I had after Nathan and I won the finals’ match point was beyond imaginable. I felt my heart stop,” Jang said. “It was one of those few moments in life that is never forgotten, where my breath was completely taken away.”

And the winner goes to…

According to the CCAA, the men’s singles was the “most anticipated” match of the tournament. Falcons’ Matt Chan faced off against Lei Chen from the Alberta Collegiate Athletic Conference for gold. The two provincial champions played a close first set, with Chan losing 21-16.  But the ACAC’s champion, Chen, broke away in the second set, winning 21-9 and secured his national title.

Langara’s men’s duo of Chan and Leung fought hard against their rivals from Douglas College in the finals.  Despite beating them at provincials, the Falcons lost to the Royals in three sets, 21-19, 16-21 and 21-16.

“They worked hard all year and all deserved their spot at nationals,” said assistant coach Bonnie Cheng.

“The team was as prepared as they can be.”

Langara’s star players weren’t the only ones to walk away with star recognition. Falcons’ head coach Marc Petreman was named CCAA’s badminton coach of the year.