The University of Toronto Varsity Blues badminton team competed in the third tournament of the IUCC badminton circuit on Sunday, November 23 at Mandarin Badminton Club.

The team had their best overall results in men's singles with six athletes winning their first round to remain in the main event.
 
Rookie Thoby Cameron advanced to the semifinals of the main draw with wins against Nathan Leung (Waterloo) 21-14, 15-21, 25-23, third seed Neil Tai Pow (Western) 21-15, 21-19, and fifth seed Clarence Chan 21-19, 22-24, 21-15 before losing to eventual tournament champion Dayvon Reid (Ryerson) 21-21, 21-12.
 
Allen Chee also had a strong tournament as he defeated York's Eric Hui 21-16, 21-13 before also meeting up with Reid and losing 21-11, 21-11 in second round play. This is Chee's first singles competition in several years after focusing on doubles and mixed doubles for the past few seasons at Western.
 
Team captain Jonathan Young also demonstrated that his training is paying off as he made a significant breakthrough in the first round as he defeated Waterloo's Lee Follis 21-17, 21-11. This was Young's first win against such an experienced player ever and his next match against Windsor's Matthew Lai was also a great demonstration of his improved play as he extended the match to 3 games falling 17-21, 21-10, 21-11 against the #9 seed of the tournament.
 
Other athletes who turned in great performances in this event were Po Han Wu, Mitchell Seed and Guanqiu Liu as they all advanced to the second round of the main event.
 
Toronto had four rookies entered in women's single action.  
 
Team captain Nirosha Damboragama played extremely well as she defeated Diana Tang (Western) 23-21, 21-16 in the first round before losing to Waterloo's Adrienne Goldsworthy (seeded 5th)  21-14, 21-19  in the second round and was on track to win the second game until her serving went awry. 
 
Yue Wang also was most impressive as she won against Western's Rumana Rafiq 21-13, 21-12 before meeting #2 seed Carrie Law (Waterloo) and extending that match to the full 3 games losing 19-21, 24-22, 11-21 in another encouraging performance.
 
Shi Yi Lu lost her first match of the tournament 21-19, 21-9 to Christine Nguyen (Waterloo) but then advanced to the consolation final with wins against Amanda Verar (York) 21-9, 21-4, Mallory Yung (Waterloo) 21-13, 21-11, Renee Wong (Ryerson) 21-19, 21-13 before losing to Western's Melanie Kong 21-11, 16-21, 16-21. 
 
In men's doubles action, Jonathan Young paired with Allen Chee and won their first match against Queen's Marc Andre Cyr/Theodore 21-10, 21-13 followed by a strong performance against Waterloo's Gordon Duzhou/Larry Liu 13-21, 21-15, 21-17 before losing in the quarter finals to Waterloo's Wes Marr/Clarence Chan (seeded 2nd) 21-23, 12-21. 
 
Thoby Cameron/Derek Leung also won their first match against Austin Nyenhuis (Trent) and Toby Zhang (McMaster) 21-19, 21-7 before losing to fifth seed Andrew Lee/Cliff Tuen (Waterloo) 21-17, 21-11.
 
Both of the Blues women's doubles teams lost their first matches in the main event but played well against top ranked teams.
 
Nirosha Damboragama/Xue Yie Jing lost to second seed Surabhi Kadam/Linda Lu 21-15, 21-19 and then won the consolation round by defeating Stephanie Lo/Diana Tang (Western) 21-10, 21-17, our own team of Shi Yi Lu and Yue Wang 21-19, 22-20 and Melanie Kong/Rumana Rafiq (Western) 21-13, 20-22, 21-12 in the finals.
 
Yue Wang/Shi Yi Lu lost their first match in main event to Waterloo's Adrienne Goldsworthy/Judy Tan 16-21, 12-21 and were relegated to B flight where they won against Philippa Ip and Amanada Verar (York) 21-9, 21-5 before meeting our own team in the semi-finals.
 
 
The Varsity Blues return to action on Saturday, November 20 as they host the annual badminton marathon at the Athletic Centre.
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