The University of Toronto Varsity Blues badminton team earned the bronze medal at the 2009 OUA championship on Saturday, November 21 at York University.
The Blues handily defeated the host York Lions 10-3 in the bronze-medal match after dropping a close 8-5 decision to the eventual champion Waterloo Warriors in semi-final action.
Toronto displayed their true character after the disappointing loss to Waterloo, winning five of six singles matches against York. 2009 OUA all-star Jesse Assing (Bethany, Ont.), Mike Lawler (Peterborough, Ont.), OUA rookie of the year Michelle Li (Richmond Hill, Ont.), 10-time all-star Melissa Hill (Oakville, Ont.) and Josee Matte (Brantford, Ont.) all defeated their York counterparts in singles action.
The Lions were able to defeat Blues number one men’s double team of Lawler and Dustin Yu (Mississauga, Ont.), however U of T took the rest of the doubles matches as men’s number two Mark Chang (Vancouver, B.C.) and Raymond Zhang (Toronto) played their best match of the season, coming from behind to win a three-set thriller 20-22, 21-19, 21-13.
Toronto’s number one women’s doubles duo of Li and Matte won 21-14, 21-11, while the number two pairing of OUA player of the year Shilin Cheung (Hong Kong) and Michelle Chow (Markham, Ont.) took the second match 24-22, 21-13.
In mixed doubles action, Zhang and Hill won the number one match 21-11, 21-10, while Graeme MacInnes (Ajax, Ont.) and Lin Wang (Beijing) took the prize in the number three spot, winning 21-17, 21-12. Mark Chang and Shilin Cheung dropped their first game 17-21 in the number two position but rebounded to take the second game 21-17. The duo led right up until match point but two unforced errors would results in a 23-21 loss.
Chang was named the player of the match as voted by his teammates as the Blues earned their eighth OUA bronze medal in the past 12 seasons.
In Toronto’s semifinal versus Waterloo, the Blues women dominated their singles matches as Li, Hill and Matte won the number one, two and three matches, respectively.
In men’s singles action, Waterloo took the number one and two games, however MacInnes stepped up and played well against Koda Kuolo to take the game 17-21, 21-19, 22-20.
Toronto led 4-2 after singles play.
The Blues ran into trouble in doubles, as both men’s teams and women’s number two dropped their matches with Cheung and Matte recording the lone doubles win in the women’s number one position.
The score was deadlocked at 5-5 heading into mixed doubles action.
Unfortunately for Toronto, the Warriors stepped up their play and took all three mixed doubles points, with the number one and number two teams taking the games to three matches.
Toronto vs Waterloo Semifinal Results
Toronto vs York Bronze-Medal Match Results
The Varsity Blues return to the court in December as some members of the team will compete at the Canadian Grand Prix circuit in Moncton, N.B. Toronto returns home on December 20 when they host their third annual badminton marathon fundraising event.
For more information, scores and highlights on your favourite Toronto teams, please visit the home of the Varsity Blues at http://www.varsityblues.ca.
