On April 14th, the Marc Garneau Badminton Team travelled to Harbord CI to compete at the Regional Championships.
Over the past few years, badminton has grown immensely in the TDSB, and is now one of the most popular sports. Badminton players participate in singles, doubles, or mixed doubles, with no regard to age. Schools are divided into Category A or Category B, and play in their respective divisions and categories in a round-robin format to qualify for the Regional Championships. In Category A, the top 4 teams qualify for Regionals, while only the top 2 from Category B move on. The top 4 overall from Regionals move onto the City Championships, and finally to Provincials (OFSAA), held this year in North Bay.
The badminton team, picture above. Photo courtesy of Matthew Chiang.
The Cougars Badminton Team is coached by Mr. Jay. They hoped to practice multiple times a week, but due to renovations in the gym, the team was only able to practice once a week. However many players trained on their own time to make up for the lack of practices.
Two teams from Marc Garneau qualified for the Regional Championships: Matthew Chiang and Siyao Chen for boys doubles, and Amy Chen and Anthony Chang for mixed doubles. Both teams played very hard, and the boys doubles team – ranked 2nd in the East Division – qualified for City Championships with a 3rd overall finish at Regionals! When asked about his experience Siyao Chen said, “Regionals allowed me to pursue my passion of badminton. I look forward to representing Marc Garneau at Cities.”
Matthew and Siyao will compete at the City Championships on April 20th at Markham Pan Am Centre with hopes of qualifying for the Provincial Championships. Be sure to wish them luck!
