Manitoba Badminton Association – The 2019 Yonex Praire Junior Elite Badminton tournament is coming to Winnipeg this weekend at the Canada Games Sport for Life Centre (145 Pacific Avenue). The tournament starts at 9:00 am Friday and runs throughout the weekend until Sunday afternoon. 145 of Canada’s best junior players will descend on the city to play in the event and to get a chance to see the venue which will be the same venue that the 2019 Yonex Junior & U23 National Championships are  being held at here next May. 

One of the notable athletes to watch this weekend is Kiren Deraj who plays out of the Winnipeg Winter Club. He is one of the provinces best junior players who triple crowned at last year’s Yonex Junior Provincial Championships. He also is ranked 18th in Canada in U17 Boys Singles. It will be interesting to see how he does this year in the U19 category. Kiren’s younger brother and sister are also competing in the tournament this year following in his footsteps.

Another Manitoba player who is competing is Avery Dick who is from Grand Rapids MB. Avery competed very successfully last year provincially in the U17 Boys category winning both the Singles and Doubles at the Yonex Junior Provincials. What is so amazing about this result is that Avery practices in Grand Rapids and has to travel approximately 6 hours to attend these tournaments. He continues to play and do well despite not having a coach and living so far away from the tournaments.

One young player from the Winnipeg Winter Club who is trying his hand at the national tournaments this year is Evan Chen who last year won singles and doubles provincially in U15 Boys. His younger brother Anson is also competing this weekend. 

The schedule for the weekend is:
Friday 9:00 am – 9:00 pm  Preliminary Rounds
Saturday 9:00 am – 2:00 pm Quarter Finals
Saturday 3:00 pm – 9:00 pm Semi Finals
Sunday 9;00 am – 3:00 pm Finals

More details can be found at Badminton Canada’s website: www.badminton.ca/sport/tournament.aspx?id=F5225D54-D11D-4952-B778-971BA585366B

We are looking forward to an exciting, action packed weekend kicking off the tournament season in Manitoba with the finale being the 2019 Yonex Junior & U23 National championships in May 2019 also being held here in Winnipeg.

For more information, please contact:

Ryan Giesbrecht
Executive Director, Manitoba Badminton Association
ryan@badminton.mb.ca
(204) 226-0813