Manitoba Badminton Association – The 2018 Manitoba Junior Badminton Championships were held this past weekend, March 16 – 18, at the Winnipeg Winter Club. Provincial winners were crowned in different age categories. 

The Junior Provincial Badminton Championships saw 107 players from across the province vying for provincial titles in four different age categories, U13, U15, U17 and U19. Each age category, with the exception of U13,  had titles in Boys Singles, Boys Doubles, Girls Singles, Girls Doubles and Mixed Doubles to be won. U13 had Singles and Doubles titles to be won. After an exciting weekend of great matches, winners were crowned. A full list of winners can be found here.

Some of the notable wins from the weekend are:

Kieran Deraj wins U19 Triple Crown at the age of 16.

Avery Dick and Easton George from Grand Rapids each win 2 events in U17 while Traytaen Halcrow also from Grand Rapids wins 2 events in U15.

Serenity Poirier from Lac du Bonnet wins a Triple Crown in U15.

Evan Chen wins 2 events in U15 at the age of 12.

Kieran Deraj at only age 16 cruised to a gold medal win over his doubles partner Allan Liu with scores of 21-15, 21-16 in U19 Boys Singles to begin his triple crown weekend. Then with Liu went on to win the U19 Boys Doubles title. He capped it off with a win in U19 Mixed Doubles where Deraj and partner Tiffany Tantakoun beat the number one seeds, Kyi Nichols and Claire Meier, in an exciting 21-19, 25-23 victory. 

For Avery Dick, Easton George and Traytaen Halcrow winning a provincial badminton title is more than just winning their games at the tournament. First they have to get to the tournament. Having to travel several hours from Grand Rapids to Winnipeg in order to compete makes it that much more difficult. The fact that they not only make it to the tournament but are winning more than one title at the highest provincial level tells a lot about their love of badminton and determination to succeed at the sport. Another factor that adds to these titles this year is that their coach passed away last fall and these athletes have continued to grow and play without the person that started them on their current path to victory.

Three years ago Serenity Poirier started to play badminton in Lac du Bonnet along with her sister and friends in order to play well at the school level in Grade 6. That year she was often the youngest player on the courts. From there her love of the sport shone through. She has competed at various competitions over the past seasons but never having the level of success she had at this year’s Junior Provincial Tournament. Coming in ranked at number 2 in Singles, it took Serenity three games to get past the number one seed Ghajaayine Senthilkumaran but she managed it with scores of 9-21, 21-14, and 22-20. In U15 Girls Doubles she partnered up with Senthilkumaran to easily sweep the doubles title with a 21-9, 21-9 win in the final. In the Mixed Doubles, Poirier teamed up with Traytaen Halcrow and made a third gold medal by beating the number one seeds Evan Chen and Mohyna Deraj 21-12 and 23-21.

Evan Chen has exploded on the provincial scene this year winning  or being runner-up in most of the tournaments he has entered. At age 12 his love of the game is evident. He spends a lot of his time on the courts practicing and hitting a shuttle. Evan won the U15 Boys Singles title by beating his doubles partner Traytaen Halcrow 21-19 and 21-14 in the final after narrowly winning his semi-final match 20-22, 21-17 and 21-10. Evan and Traytaen then teamed up to win the doubles title again with an exciting semi-final win of 21-8, 19-21 and 30-29 (the highest score possible in a badminton game). They went on to win their final match against Vincent Froese and Victor Ho 21-8 and 21-17. Evan narrowly missed a triple crown himself when he lost the Mixed Doubles final against Poirier and Halcrow 21-12 and 23-21.

For all the tournament results click here.

Each of these winners are automatically selected to represent Manitoba at the Western Canadian Team Championships to be held in Calgary April 20 – 22, 2018. It will be exciting to see how these athletes play on the national stage. As well each of these winners have many more years to continue to play and compete in their chosen sport.

For more information, please contact:

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