Over the Canada Day long weekend, Badmintology Vancouver (BV) hosted the final event of the third season, the team championship at Cambie Secondary. A little background for everyone. In Season 1, Hugh Leung and Cynthia of Team Beyond won the deciding match against Baddiholics (BDHL) to win 3-2 and took home the first ever team championship against Kevin So and Rosalyn Chong of BDHL. In Season 2, Hugh and Cynthia did it again against Vincent Teo and Veronica Yeung of BDHL.
So how did Season 3 end?
After 4 highly contested team matches, the team score was tied 2-2. Last up, Hugh and Cynthia of Beyond vs. Chris Chung and Veronica of BDHL. Once again, it has come down to the mix doubles three years in a row.
With an anxious crowd, we watch as all competitors gave it their all. In the end, the third set belonged to Beyond as they recover all types of amazing shots by Chris. Thanks to Joseph Yeung, we managed to preserve the winning moment.
A three-peat? I believe you call that a dynasty. How many more championships does this team got?
Do not feel too bad for the BDHL though, no doubt they will come back, stronger than ever, and once again fight for that championship, indeed, their time will surely come!
Now, the team championship is not only about the 1st/2nd battle, 16 teams played til the end until everyone receive a placing. Let’s do a little re-cap.
3rd place – Masters of Badminton Addiction (MBA)
MBA reminded brought back some old school magic as Phillip Chung lead the team in the final match and won both Men Singles and Mix Doubles to take home third. Big credit to Helen Yuen and Shaolin Guo for playing every single match in the tournament! Hope you can find a third girl to help carry the load next year!
4th place – The Avengers
The Avengers lost their Captain America in the semi-finals as Jensen Ly had to go. Regardless, the rest of the heroic crew finish the job with a strong effort against BDHL and MBA. Memorable match on the final day include Ken Fung and Wesley Fung against Vincent Teo and Wilson Wong. Unfortunately, Ken and Wesley lost in their home court to the wily veterans.
5th place – Top
This team lead by Elisha Liu and Joanna Che showed us that you can win in many ways. With rumors of another strong female addition next year, could they solve the top teams and show us all that it’s a female world out there?
6th place – Full of Hits (FoH)
Having survived the round robin group of death (Falanja, VR Shock, BDHL Pro), this team, lead by the solid play of Mickey Chow and the line-up strategy of Shaolin Tsui had a strong showing at this championship. Special shout-out to Janet Chen for stepping up her play with each and every game.
7th place – VR Shock
After narrowly surviving group play, VR Shock showed that it belongs in the top 8 with a strong final match against Team Advil. Lead by Billy Yu and a core of young players, this is a team that will be a threat in years to come!
8th place – Advil
The team with the most colorful poster. This team provided the first upset of round robin play and squeaked into the top 8 after defeating BL United. With Trevor Yu, Jacky and Jasmine Li, this team will be around for a long time. Watch out!
9TH place – Falanja
With Simon Wong, Nathan Cao, and Carol Quach flying in from San Francisco, this was by far the most international of all teams. After struggling to find the right mix in round robin, team Falanja came back strong on the second day to win all their matches to take 9th place. Not only a talented team, this is also where the party is at!
10th place – BDHL Pro
Just how tough is the group of death? Well, the top finishers of the second pool are Falanja and BDHL Pro. This veteran team has been a cornerstone of team tournaments in the past and made their presence felt this tournament. Always a pleasure to see a classic team play.
11th place – BL United
Perhaps the team that fell the farthest from expectation, this team still manage to give us some amazing plays from Terrence Ma and Jacky Chan. With the biggest team in the tournament, BL United took the socialist approach made sure everyone played an equal amount of matches. Extra points for their embroided team uniforms.
12th place – RallyBreakers
“We do not want to come last again” was what I heard at the start of the tournament and this they did achieve. One of the youngest team of the tournament, the training paid off as they continue to move up the standings. Special shout-outs to the Shum sisters – Karina and Jamie for always helping out with BV!
13th place – Dark Souls of the Knights
First time participants in the team tournament, this team was led by U19 all stars in Michael Fok and Cheryl Ng. Michael might have taken the best prize of the tournament with the Victor LYD racket at the tournament! Congratulations.
14th place – Evolution
Predominantly a green shell team, Evolution made some teams turns head with the strong play of Austin Doong. Winning the 2nd last match of the day over CCBC promoted them into 14th place! Well done.
15th place – CCBC
With a poster paying tribute to a teammate on vacation, a short staffed CCBC fought valiantly for two days and gave some great performances. Watch out for this team when their full team comes back!
16th place – 1-Up
Once the biggest team in the tournament, this was an unfortunate turn of events as 1-Up became incredibly short staffed and suffered because of it. With many players double shifting each time, the fatigue was just too much at the end. No worries though, this team still have many lives to go!
Team Banquet
After the finals, participants joined us in a wonderful banquet MC’ed by our very own Wilson Wong. With a photobooth set up, participants got to take many fun and silly photos as they eat, drink and laugh. The event of the night came down to a rock paper scissors competition between Michael Fok and Marco Ng for the Victor LYD racquet. Despite coaching from fellow teammate Oman Yip, Marco was no match for the rocks from Michael as he lost 3-0.
Thank you
Lastly, we want to thank everyone that has been part of the BV community! It is only as successful as your participation allows it. Also, thank you to Julia Chiang, Karina and Jamie Shum, Jason Wong, and all other volunteers that help us carry this tournament. We cannot have done it without you guys.
What is next?
Well as usual, we look to improve year and year, with the strong showing in the team tournament, there is no doubt next season will be another fierce battle! If you have any suggestions to make us better, please email them to us at admin@badmintology.com . We love to hear from you.
Thank you.
BV
