The University of Toronto Varsity Blues badminton team entered 16 athletes in the Ryerson Winter Open on Sunday, January 18 at Ryerson University.

In the men's singles category, Allen Chee, initially seeded fifth, won his first match against the ninth seed from Waterloo, Clarence Chan and then in the quarter-finals faced another Waterloo player, third-seeded Cliff Tuen and lost a close match 21-19, 16-21, 18-21. 

Rookie Guanqiu Liu won his qualifying pool and advanced to the main round where he played fifth seed Nathan Leung (Waterloo) and played well in a 12-21, 21-16, 21-11 loss. Team captain Jonathan Young played well as he won against Yixuan Bai (UIM Eagles) 21-18, 21-8 but lost to Waterloo`s Cliff Tuen.

Toronto had four women's singles entries, all four being rookies. Yen Zoo Chen played really well in her pool winning against York's Andrea Chin (21-13, 16-21, 21-11) but lost to No. 3 seed Adrienne Goldsworthy of Waterloo (15-21, 21-15, 19-21) demonstrating that she will be a force at the OUA finals. Teammate Shi Yi Lu won against Western's Alex Beckford (21-15, 21-13) but lost to No. 2 seed Vivian Kwok from Ryerson. Lastly, Yue Wang defeated Seneca's Katie Lui (22-20, 21-16) but unfortunately lost to 3rd seed Carrie Law (16-21, 13-21).

In men's doubles, the Blues Allen Chee and Guanqiu Liu advanced to the main round where they played Bosco Lau/Hadrian Liu (Lee's BC) and lost a close 17-21, 21-15, 15-21 match to finish 5th.

U of T showed strength in the women's doubles. Team captains Nirosha Danboragama and Xue Jie Jing played well as they won their qualifying pool with wins against Seneca and York but then were upset by Western's Melanie Kong/Celine Zhen 10-21, 15-21 in the main event, finishing ninth in their event.

Full results

The Varsity Blues next competition is at Durham College on Sunday, January 25th at the IUCC Durham tournament.