Falcons badminton team win big at provincials

Langara’s badminton team has paved a golden road to this year’s Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association’s badminton national championships which started Thursday in Edmonton.

Langara dominated the PacWest provincial badminton championships this year, winning four gold medals out of a possible five. The only event they did not medal in was women’s singles.

Falcons break Douglas College’s provincials streak

It was Langara’s first provincial championship since the 2004-2005 season, breaking Douglas College’s eight-year winning streak. The Falcons are now the top team in the CCAA national rankings.

Provincial champions from Langara include Matthew Chan in men’s singles, Hugh Leung and Shurman Chan in men’s doubles, Nathan Choi and Ashley Jang in mixed doubles, Florina Lau and Michelle Hang in women’s doubles.

Expectations are high as the team prepares to fly to the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology in Edmonton on Feb. 25, where they hope to continue their winning streak against badminton players from across the country.

Encouraging atmosphere 

Coach Marc Petreman credits the team’s success to increased funding by the athletic department, strong recruitment policies and a family-like atmosphere.

“We all get along very well. During provincials we were all cheering for each other’s teams,” said Ashley Jang. “We all support each other during practice, we all play with each other, do drills to help each other out, give each other advice when we think it’ll be a benefit.”

Falcons more versatile this year

Assistant coach Bonnie Cheng believes this year’s team has a lot more depth compared to previous years.

“In the past, we’ve had players that specialized in certain events. But this year we have a lot more players that can play all three,” said Cheng. “So we can kind of mix up our teams a bit more. Singles, doubles, doubles mixed, lots of versatility for the team this year.”

Coach Petreman was named the PacWest badminton coach of the year this season and hopes that his players will win the team title along with individual gold medals.

Reported by Lukasz Jonca