OLDS — The Olds College Broncos badminton team had a great showing at the ACAC Conference Championships held at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) Feb. 22-23.
Priyanna Ramdhani was named to the 2019-20 ACAC badminton all-conference team and collectively, the Broncos badminton team obtained four medals.
The weekend began with the team competition.
The Broncos lost the semifinal 4-0 to the Concordia University of Edmonton Thunder before losing 4-2 to the King’s University (TKU) in the bronze medal game.
That evening things started to get exciting for the Broncos as first-year student-athlete Priyanna Ramdhani was named to the 2019-20 ACAC badminton all-conference female team.
Ramdhani is a sports management student from Peters Hall, Guyana.
During the individual competitions on Feb. 23, the Broncos made their presence known throughout the day.
Ramdhani showed why she was on the all-conference team by winning a silver medal in women’s singles.
She defeated Kaitlyn Gee of NAIT 21-4, 21-6 in the quarter-final to make the round robin final four.
Ramdhani lost to gold medal-winning and ACAC female player of the year Takeisha Wang of Concordia 21-10, 21-10 before defeating two other Concordia players — Kassidy Turcotte 21-6, 21-6 and Kaylee Morris 21-12, 21-7.
Other Broncos competing in women’s singles were Kathrin Wildt who lost to Erica Jorgensen of TKU 21-17, 21-16 in the round of 16, and Jenna Kardos who lost in the quarter-final to bronze medal winner Turcotte 21-10, 21-9 after defeating Ehhsertinay Paw of TKU in the round of 16.
Ramdhani teamed up with Layce Donaldson in women’s doubles.
They defeated Krisha Mejica and Cecilia Wolski of TKU 21-15, 16-21, 21-18 to make the round robin final four.
They lost to gold medal-winning Jasleen Kaur and Johnna Rymes of Concordia and silver medal-winning Samantha Hsu and Ivy Ung of NAIT, but defeated Kaitlyn Gee and Connie Juang of NAIT to win a bronze medal.
Troy Morgan of the Broncos won two bronze medals.
His first came in men’s singles where he defeated Concordia’s Chava Robles 21-11, 21-5 to get to the round robin final four.
He lost to gold medal-winning and ACAC badminton male player of the year Roymond Kim of NAIT and silver medal winner Narayan Ramdhani of TKU, before defeating Tyson Tsen of Concordia in a comeback 13-21, 21-6, 21-16 win to capture bronze.
Other Broncos competing in men’s singles were Rylan Head who fell in the round of 16 to Fits Galang of TKU 21-19, 23-21.
Noah Jeffery lost in the quarter-final.
After defeating Liam Nutma of TKU, he lost to Concordia’s Tyson Tsen 21-17, 21-11.
Bob Stevenson also lost in the quarter-final.
After defeating Concordia’s Lane Toma 21-16, 19-21, 21-12, he lost to Narayan Ramdhani of TKU 21-5, 21-7.
Morgan continued his winning ways in men’s doubles where he and his doubles partner Noah Jeffery won a bronze medal. They defeated Aakash Panchal and Alex Stewart of TKU in the quarter-final in a comeback 11-21, 21-10, 21-15 win.
They lost to gold medal-winning Smit Patel and Tyler Walsh of NAIT and to Nicolas Pittman and Braxton Wong of Concordia who won silver.
However, they defeated Fits Galang and Liam Nutma of TKU to capture that ACAC bronze.
Rylan Head and Bob Stevenson lost a close quarter-final match to Fits Galang and Liam Nutma of TKU 21-16, 21-18.
Olds College was also well represented in mixed doubles where Noah Jeffery and Layce Donaldson defeated Chava Robles and Kaylee Morris of Concordia 20-22, 21-16, 21-18 before falling to bronze medal-winning Tyson Tsen and Kassidy Turcotte of Concordia in the quarter-final 21-10, 21-14.
Rylan Head and Jenna Kardos defeated Fits Galang and Chanel Simrose of TKU 21-18, 22-20 before falling to Alex Stewart and Cecilia Wolski, also of TKU 21-16, 21-15.
