Killarney 7 - 4 Prince of Wales
The Killarney Cougars defeated the Prince of Wales Walesmen 7-4 on May 9 to become Vancouver’s senior badminton city champions.
The Prince of Wales’ impressive record of only one loss in its past 21 games fell to 21-2 as a result and stopped their championship streak at three.
With the home game win, Killarney earned direct entry to the provincial championships while Prince of Wales will compete at the Lower Mainland regionals in order to secure a provincial spot.
David Thompson won their bronze medal match against Eric Hamber 7-4, also May 9, and also advanced to regionals.
Killarney and Prince of Wales duelled for the city title last year, with the Walesmen winning 6-5. The Cougars then beat their cross-town rival in the provincial quarterfinals, eventually finishing fourth at provincials.
The city final started well for Prince of Wales, and their girls teams quickly won all four doubles games. But the boys doubles from Prince of Wales were unable to deliver, and Killarney won the last two games of the night.
Doubles teams Simon Cheng and Juan Karamoy, and Felix Law and Hayden Yee won their games against Walesmen Henry Ahn and Victor Chen, and Nicholas Chu and Daniel Schultz.
Yee/Law versus Chu/Schultz was without a doubt the most watched game of the night. Students sat on either side of the court, cheering their teams after every rally.
Two of the players on court, one from either side of the net, knew each other well. Felix Law and Daniel Shultz, both 17, competed in U19 boys doubles as a pair only two weeks ago at the Canadian junior nationals held at Clearone Badminton Centre in Richmond. Both boys train at Vancouver Racquets Club.
Killarney’s Law / Yee won the first set with a nail-biting 21-19. The long rallies gave them a chance to warm up for the second set, in which they only gave up nine points.
In that crucial second set, Chu and Schultz lost seven rallies in a row, giving momentum to their opponent.
“We lost focus and it was downhill from there,” said Schultz.
Chu agreed and credited the Killarney duo’s smart strategy. “They were changing the pace of the game, playing tight net shots then pushing [to the back court],” he said.
Playing against your partner can have its advantages, said Law.
“You know the other person’s shots and you know that he knows yours, so that makes it interesting,” he said. “We were playing mind games before the game even started.”
Other notable games included the singles match between Lisa Khuc and Nikki Shen. Killanrey’s Khuc squeezed by 21-19 in the first set, then finished the match with a solid 21-7 score in the second set.
Akina Chen and Nia Ru were stars for the Prince of Wales teams. They won both of their double matches with ease: 21-5, 21-4 in their first match and 21-11, 21-14 in the second.
Teammates Serene Chang and Shavonne Yu won their doubles games with similar scores: 21-7, 21-11 and 21-11, 21-13.
“They’ve come such a long way. They’re giving 100 per cent and they’ve improved so much even just this season,” said Carmen Tang, assistant coach and a Prince of Wales graduate.
She smiled when she added, “This is why I like coming back, for the team experience.”
But it was not enough to stop the Cougars from grabbing the city title. Killarney will now rest and prepare for their second provincial showing in two years. Provincials will be held May 29 to31 in Richmond.
The Lower Mainland regionals were played at Burnaby South Secondary, May 12 and 13. As of the Courier’s Tuesday print deadline, both Prince of Wales and David Thompson were in the running for one of four guaranteed provincial berths. David Thompson is in pool B, the same pool as last year’s provincial champions, a co-ed team drawn from players at St. George’s and Crofton House.
FOUL CALLED
The thrill of the Cougars’ city championship was dampened when Killarney learned their title was in jeopardy because of a complaint from another school.
David Thompson filed an official complaint to the Vancouver Secondary School Athletics Association after the two schools met in the semifinals May 6. A DT coach alleged two Killarney players were not on the official team roster, which would have made them ineligible to play.
The Vancouver School Board athletic coordinator rejected the complaint, citing technical or clerical error as the cause of Killarney’s incomplete roster. Harp Sohi, pointed out the distinction between an unregistered and an ineligible player.
“There were two players who were not included on the roster, but they were eligible. They had played on previous teams, last year and the year before,” he said.
Killarney was fined $200 for their error, and B.C. School Sports has since added the two students to the roster.
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