Shams, Tso, Peng Capture National Bronze
The Seneca Sting captured a pair of national bronze medals as Moti Shams (Women's Singles) and the team of Anthony Tso and Eric Peng (Men's Doubles) each won medals.
Women's Singles
Ritu Shah of the University of King's College Blue Devils successfully defended the Women's Singles national championship, defeating Jasleen Kaur of the Concordia Thunder 21-18, 21-15. Shah overcame a late deficit in the opening set to capture the momentum en route to victory. Moti Shams (Seneca) defeated Prarthana Deuba (Centennial) when Deuba was forced to retire in the second set 21-17, 19-17. Shams redeemed herself after falling in the bronze medal match in 2023.
Men's Singles
Thomas Ashton (University of King's College) waited a year for another shot at Colin Zhou (Centennial) and created a lasting memory, defeating the reigning national champion in three sets 21-18, 17-21, 21-19. Ashton had an answer for Zhou every time the Colts' star tried to gain the momentum in the match, delivery clutch shots throughout. Smit Patel (NAIT), the 2022 national champion, captured the bronze medal, defeating Eason Wong (SAIT) 21-14, 21-14.
Women's Doubles
Abby Ledda and Cecilia Wolski of the The King's University Eagles were the feel-good team of the championship. The two fifth-year players entered the gold medal match with memories of falling short in both 2022 and 2023 in the same spot. The Eagles tandem completed their post-secondary careers capturing the national championship, defeating Giselle Kochapanya and Monique Lee (George Brown) 21-17, 23-21. Anna Dugandzi and Anna Gillies (UKC) defeated Seneca's Hedieh Abbasbeiglou and Tanya Sharma in the bronze medal match 21-12, 21-19.
Men's Doubles
Jason Chiu and Pau Ouano of the SAIT Trojans continued to be the best Men's Doubles team in the championship, completing a 7-0 event with a hard-fought 21-15, 17-21, 21-17 win over Roshan Jacob and Arpi Sinha of Fanshawe. Eric Peng and Anthony Tso of the host Sting defeated Greg Friske and Anirudh Sharma (NAIT) in the bronze medal match. This is the third national medal for Tso, previously capturing a gold (2022) and bronze (2023) in men's doubles.
Mixed Doubles
Mahdi Ahmadi and Khushi Vaniya of The King's University hold the distinction of the first to be crowned badminton national champions in 2024, winning the opening match of the gold medal round. The Eagles team defeated Krishna Vaibhov and Sydney Arseneault of the UNB Saint-John Seawolves 21-18, 21-18. Davis Wong and Manasi Pandit (NAIT) captured the bronze medal with a 21-14, 21-15 win over Gokul Kumar and Zeel Rohit of Humber.
Seneca's Anthony Tso received the Eileen Harle Exemplary Leadership Award voted by the awards committee (head official, convenor and CCAA representative). Tso's friendly smile, positive attitude and sportsmanship throughout made the third year player an easy choice for the committee.
ACAC 1 captured the Team Supremacy Award which goes to the top conference team based on the round robin results. The top ACAC team topped the standings in three disciplines and consisted of Jasleen Kaur (Concordia), Eason Wong (SAIT), Abby Ledda and Cecilia Wolski (The King's University), Jason Chiu and Paul Ouano (SAIT) and Mahdi Ahmadi and Khushi Vaniya (The King's University).
Championship Results: Badminton Canada
Championship Live Stream: https://www.youtube.com/@CCAAsportsACSC/streams