A group of 10 young badminton players from Bench Elementary School ventured over to the Okanagan on the Feb. 28 weekend to take part in the annual junior tournament hosted by the Kelowna Badminton Club.
Ranging in age from 8 to 13, the Merritt-area youngsters competed in singles, doubles and mixed doubles events against players from throughout the Interior of B.C. and as far away as Vancouver and Invermere.
“The skill set was strong, and the games were challenging and fun to watch,” Bench Grade 6 teacher and head coach Vince Kanigan said. “The sportsmanship was excellent. It should be noted that in badminton (right up to Provincials), players make their own calls on their side [of the net].”
Twelve-year-old Drew Kanigan made it a clean sweep of his events at the Kelowna competition, placing first in the U14 “A” boys singles and “A” boys doubles, the “A” mixed doubles, as well as the U16 boys “A” singles. His partner in the boys doubles event was Owen Robertson from Kamloops, while his mixed doubles partner was teammate Breanna Ouellet.
Ouellet, who could only compete on the Friday night due to hockey commitments, also won the U12 girls “A” singles event.
Other first-place finishers from the Bench badminton program were eight-year-old Aidan Dunsmore (U12 “B” boys singles), 10-year-old Hannah Howard (U12 “B” girls doubles with Amanda Gao from Kelowna), 12-year-old Rose
Howard (U14 “B” mixed doubles with Davis Tenta from Invermere), and Taylor Shackelly (U14 “A” girls doubles with Megan Pittaya Wong from Vancouver).
According to Kanigan, the highlight match of the weekend involving Bench players might have been the U14 girls singles battle between Howard and teammate Niah Prowal. Lasting 29 minutes and including several 25-hit rallies, the contest narrowly went to Howard by game scores of 21-17, 22-20.
