Sting Capture Three Medals at OCAA Championship

AURORA, Ont. - There was a three-way tie for the women's team championship while the Centennial Colts captured the men's title at the 2023 OCAA Badminton Championships.

The Conestoga Condors, Humber Hawks and Seneca Sting all tied for the women's team championship. The Sting had a chance to win the championship outright, but Conestoga's Devika Kumar defeated Seneca's Moti Shams to create the shared title. On the men's side, the Colts ran away with the team championship. Sitting in a tie for the top spot, the Colts pulled away thanks to having the two finalists in the Men's Singles final.

In a match-up of the two Women's Singles divisional player of the year winners, it was Conestoga's Kumar eeking out a three-game victory over Seneca's Shams, breaking a 15-15 tie to win the the deciding game 21-17. Humber's Zeel Rohit came away with the bronze medal, defeating George Brown's Thanawadee Kochapanya 21-19, 21-15.

In the all-Centennial final, OCAA Men's Player of the Year Colin Zhou continued his dominance over OCAA competition, winning 21-17, 21-16 over teammate Vishal Dave. Fanshawe's Arpi Sinha defeated Sadik Ali of Conestoga in the bronze medal match in three sets.

The Women's Doubles division belonged to the Hawks as Victoria Duong and Airi Moromisato finished an unblemished championship by defeating Fanshawe's Morgan Grant and Mook Prasarn 21-6, 21-8. The Hawk's duo won all ten sets played and never allowed an opponent to score more than nine points in a game including a pair of shutouts. Marla Betts and Sarah Dirkse of Conestoga captured the bronze medal, defeating Seneca's Danessa Griffith and Danielle Yanes by identical 21-13 scores.

Humber's duo of Nishant Batra and Sirapob Kongubon captured the gold medal, defeating Seneca's Anthony Tso and Kevin Shah. Batra and Kongubon overcame a 15-10 deficit in the third set to snatch the championship away from the Sting. Adam Wilson and Brandon Cheung of Centennial captured the bronze medal, outlasting Brandon Watkins and Afsar Chowdury of St. Lawrence in three games 24-22, 17-21, 21-16.

The OCAA East Regional champions from the George Brown Huskies captured the mixed doubles division. Monique Lee and Sarthak Aroro swept their way to a gold medal defeating Ninh Le and Denisse Scott of Centennial 21-11, 21-15 in the final. Seneca's Dhruv Taneja and Mehak Chawla secured the bronze medal, defeating Aniket Ramrupwad and Kendra McCoy of Fanshawe.

The offials celebrated one the OCAA's values by recognizing a student-athlete, coach and team as fair play recipients. Conestoga's Ali was named the student-athlete fair play recipient while St. Lawrence head coach and OCAA East Coach of the Year Eric Pattison was recognized as the coach recipient. On the team side, the Centennial Colts were recognized for their display of sportsmanship, respect and integrity throughout the championships.

The OCAA champion and silver medalist in each division qualified for the CCAA National Badminton Championship March 8-11 at Dalhousie Agricultural Campus in Truro, NS.