Banner Season: Final four takes shape on Day 2 of OUA Badminton Championship
Toronto, Ont. (via the York Lions) - Four teams remain in the hunt for an OUA badminton banner.
Western will battle Waterloo in one semi-final, while GTA foes York and Toronto will duel in the other for a right the play for the OUA title.
The Warriors and Varsity Blues earned byes to the semis after wrapping up pool play atop their respective groups. Toronto finished first in Pool A after running the table in preliminary round play, including a dominant 10-0 win over the McMaster Marauders in which they only dropped a single set. Waterloo, meanwhile, where the best of Pool B, having also gone unblemished with a 3-0-1 record. They concluded group play with a pair of convincing victories over Ottawa and Guelph which they won by a combined score of 19-1.
The host York Lions advanced to the semis with a 6-1 quarter-final victory over the McMaster Marauders. The Lions male doubles tandem of Victor Lai and Nathaniel Vhan took the first game over R.J. Escuardo and Roger Sun in straight sets (21-11, 21-15), before Sharon Au and Lok Yiu Sze defeated Hazel Huang and Aeris Wong (21-12, 21-11). The Marauders got back in it with a victory by Karan Mukhi and Aaryan Walia (24-22, 21-19) to make it 2-1. It was all York from there, however, as they reeled off four straight victories to clinch the tie in seven matches.
The Western Mustangs and Ottawa Gee-Gees played to a 5-5 draw vin their quarterfinal tie, with Western advancing to the semi-final due to more games won in the tie (13-11). Ottawa got out to a 2-0 lead thanks to a pair of singles victories courtesy of Yunhao Tang (18-21, 21-11, 21-11) over Jason Ling and Kartikay Tyagi over Maurice Li (21-16, 21-16). Western came back to earn the next two matches, knotting the tie at 2-2. The Gee-Gees eventually took a 5-2 lead before the Mustangs stormed back to even the tie and advance to the semis, the final blow being a women's doubles victory by Karen Ki and Katy Wong over Lea Viallancourt and Isabelle Zhang (21-13, 21-12).
The consolation side of the bracket also kicked off late on Saturday, with the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks taking down the Guelph Gryphons to advance to the seventh-place game against TMU on Sunday morning. The Ridgebacks took the first five matches of the tie before eventually taking it by a 6-2 count
Sunday's action kicks off with the seventh-place match TMU and Ontario Tech at 9:00 am. The semi-finals will also be played at 9:00 am, with medal ties being played at 1:00 pm.
CHAMPIONSHIP SUNDAY SCHEDULE
7TH-PLACE TIE: TMU vs. Ontario Tech (9:00 am
5TH-PLACE TIE: McMaster vs. Ottawa (9:00 am)
SEMI-FINAL #1: York vs. Toronto (9:00 am)
SEMI-FINAL #2: Western vs. Waterloo (9:00 am)
BRONZE MEDAL TIE: TBD (1:00 pm)
GOLD MEDAL TIE: TBD (1:00 pm)