To many, badminton is just a backyard sport or a fun game to play in gym class. But, did you know that badminton is also a professional sport, played at an international level and even in the Olympics? At its highest level, badminton is taken so seriously that the shuttles used aren’t plastic nylon (like the ones you have probably played with all your life). Instead, they are made out of 16 goose feathers. On top of that, players play on pristine, white-striped, green courts. You would be surprised to see just how serious badminton can be.
As a matter of fact, Canada has a national badminton team of its own, which features many talented players aging from 20 - 30 years old. There were also a few other pro Canadian badminton players who participated in international tournaments last year, such as B.R. Sankeerth, Talia Ng, Catherine Choi, Rachel Chan, and Wendy Zhang.
Down below, is an exclusive interview that we were luckily able to conduct with one of the international players mentioned before, B.R. Sankeerth. He gives insight into his badminton career during the COVID-19 pandemic, international achievements he has made in the past year, and goals he has for the future.
Now, let’s take a look at some of the major accomplishments of other players during the 2021 tournament season.
Starting off with Canada’s promising player Brian Yang, the young talent had several surprises waiting for him and the rest of the world, especially at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Being the youngest men’s badminton player at the Olympics that year, his neck-to-neck match with the second-seeded Chou Tien Chien of Chinese Taipei blew the minds of viewers. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to pull the win and lost 18-21, 21-16, 20-22.
Nevertheless, this match was a very important one for him, after which things only got better for him. With his sheer will and determination, he went on to win against more top ranked players, including Jonathan Christie (8th in the world), Lakshya Sen (13th), and Kanta Tsuneyama (14th) in the following tournaments he participated in. As of now, he is ranked 34th in the world.
Many of the main highlights for Canada’s national players overall were in Lima, Peru, at the XXIV Pan Am Individual Championships 2021. This tournament is hosted annually by the Badminton Pan America (BPA), in which both North American and South American badminton players compete for the top positions in the Americas. Last year, a total of 121 players from 16 nations competed in this tournament.
Josephine Wu and Joshua Hurlburt-Yu ( the mixed doubles team) and Rachel Honderich and Kristen Tsai ( the women’s doubles team), all captured gold medals. The men’s doubles team – consisting of Nyl Yakura and Jason Ho-Shue – won a silver medal, though they had to withdraw from finals due to personal issues.
All three of the players on the mens’ singles podium for this tournament were Canadian. Brian Yang placed first, followed by Jason Ho-Shue, and B.R. Sankeerth who came in third.
Two of the players on the podium for women’s singles were also Canadian. Canada’s youngest national champion Rachel Chan won silver and Talia Ng placed right behind her with bronze.
Of course, they had some great wins against other world-ranked players in prestigious tournaments such as the Yonex Swiss Open 2021 and the BWF World Championships 2021 in Huelva, Spain.
With that being said, thank you for taking the time to tune in onto a 2021 recap of Canadian badminton. Hopefully, reading this article opened your eyes to the prevalence of badminton in Canada and the rest of the world. Though it isn’t nearly as popular as sports like basketball or baseball, badminton is an amazing sport that requires speed, stamina, skill, and mental and physical strength. I expect that we will see more great things from these rising Canadian stars in the 2022 season.
So, if this article has made you interested in badminton, you can watch these players represent our country with pride in tournaments such as the Pan Am M&F Cup 2022, the Yonex All England Badminton Championships 2022, and the Yonex Swiss Open 2022. All of these tournaments can be accessed through live streams on the corresponding youtube channels of the hosts (Badminton Pan Am and BWF). Or, you can try out the sport for yourself, by grabbing a racket, a badminton shuttle, and a friend to enjoy it yourself.
By Shivani Lysetti
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