Not only did this past weekend’s 2010 Yukon Badminton Championships result in a good mix of new and old champs, as in past years, many of the titles went to players from outside of Whitehorse at Porter Creek Secondary over the weekend.
A few titles even left the territory.
Like last year, a contingent from Watson Lake raked in the medals.
After winning all the titles he possibly could last year, Watson Lake’s Jason Carlson brought home a couple more medals, winning the newly added men’s open singles title and taking silver in the open men’s doubles title with partner Sandeep Sharma from Whitehorse. Josh Boettcher and Jason Nielson from Grande Prairie, Alberta took gold.
Carlson had to defeat Sharma 21-12, 24-22 in the singles final to win gold.
“I think he was more desperate (in the second set),” said Jason. “His flick serve was really getting me.
“The open (division) makes it a lot trickier. The guys from Grande Prairie and a couple others from around here makes it much more competitive. Last year my toughest game was 21-10, 21-12 in the final, this year all my games were much tougher.”
At the young age of just 14, Watson Lake’s Michaela Rotondi won open women division, defeating her older sister and last year’s U-19 champion, Abbie Rotondi 21-19, 15-21, 23-21 in the final.
“Usually she beats me in two sets – we took it to three this time,” said Rotondi. “I felt really on my game and she had an injury. That helped a little bit.”
No strangers of success, the Rotondi sisters won six medals last year, including three golds. Forgoing the junior divisions completely this year, the Rotondis also won the open women’s doubles and came first and second in the open mixed doubles division, each teamed up with Grand Prairie players, with Abbie taking gold.
“It’s been really fun,” said Abbie, 17. “This is one of the best years, in terms of kids. And adding open (divisions) to the tournament was really good too.”
As successful as Watson Lake players were, some Dawson competitors also took home a fair share of medals.
Casey Parker, 15, from Dawson City won the U-16 boys division without dropping a set along the way.
“I wish I was in U-19 though just so I could have more of a challenge,” said Parker. “My gold medal match against Francis (Belanger) – he’s pretty good.
“The players in U-16 weren’t that good, which surprised me. But it was still fun.”
Parker also won the U-16 boys’ doubles with Francis Belanger from the Ecole Emilie Trambley club in Whitehorse, whom he defeated in the singles final 22-20, 21-19.
“I couldn’t find a partner in Dawson, so I asked them to choose a partner for me,” said Parker, who thinks he will play up an age group in U-19 next year. “Francis and I both know each other, so that was good. I used to play him when I lived here for one semester.”
Thanks to the newly added open divisions, the championships had one of its largest turnouts with more than 100 competitors.
“(The open divisions) added a few, maybe 10 or 15 competitors,” said organizer Randy Carlson. “It was a similar number to what we had last year in the junior categories.
“We got a little more rural competition; every year it’s building up and becoming more a territory wide competition. We have kids from Teslin, from Mayo and we have quite a contingent from Dawson this year.”
By welcoming Outside players to enter the open division, such as the two from Grande Prairie, the championships might continue to grow and could even become an international event with the possible addition of Alaskans in coming years.
“We sent invitations out to people we met at the Arctic Winter Games, Alaska, NWT and some folks in southern BC that have helped coach our team and Yukon athletes,” said Randy. “We didn’t have an opportunity to give them a lot of advanced notice, so most couldn’t fit it into the schedule. But some said they were interested and, if we can do this again next year, they’d try to make it.”
Results
Open women’s singles
1st Michaela Rotondi (Watson Lake)
2nd Abbie Rotondi (Watson Lake)
3rd Jasmine Gordon (Whitehorse)
Open men’s singles
1st Jason Carlson (Watson Lake)
2nd Sandeep Sharma (Whitehorse)
3rd Josh Boettcher (Grande Prairie)
U-19 girls’ singles
Combined with open division.
U-19 boys’ singles
1st Andrew Taylor (Dawson)
2nd Justin Dragoman (Dawson)
3rd Ryan Lane (Vanier)
U-16 girls’ singles
1st Shakiba Kazem (Porter Creek)
2nd Mikaela Lane (Porter Creek)
3rd Martha Phillips (JV Clark)
U-16 boys’ singles
1st Casey Parker (Dawson)
2nd Francis Belanger (EET)
3rd Alistair Findlay Brook (Dawson)
U-14 girls’ singles
1st Sara Burke-Forsyth (FH Collins)
2nd Tia Oster (Hidden Valley)
3rd Jacy Sam (Selkirk Elementary)
U-14 boys’ singles
1st Peter Joe Jenson (Porter Creek)
2nd Benjamin Grundmanis (Whitehorse Elementary)
3rd Trygg Jensen (Hidden Valley)
U-12 girls’ singles
Combined with U-14 girls’ division.
U-12 boys’ singles
1st Tristan Rentmeister (EET)
2nd Cole Dewhurst (Teslin)
Open women’s doubles
1st Abbie Rotondi/Michaela Rotondi (Watson Lake)
2nd Jasmine Gordon/Leanne Gordon (Whitehorse/Porter Creek)
3rd Tassha Johnson/Sarina Sydney (Porter Creek)
Open men’s doubles
1st Josh Boettcher/Jason Nielson (Grande Prairie)
2nd Jason Carlson/Sandeep Sharma (Watson Lake/Whitehorse)
3rd Brian Johnston/Michael Muller (Whitehorse)
Open mixed doubles
1st Abbie Rotondi/Josh Boettcher (Watson Lake/Grande Prairie)
2nd Michaela Rotondi/Jason Nielson (Watson Lake/Grande Prairie)
3rd Yeu Fong Sharma/Sandeep Sharma (Whitehorse)
U-19 girls’ doubles
1st Mikaela Lane/Shakiba Kazemi (Porter Creek)
2nd Brittney Lafferty/Patty Wallingham (Vanier)
3rd Ashley Anderson/Michayla Wolfe (Teslin)
U-19 boys’ doubles
1st Andrew Tayler/Justin Dragoman (Dawson)
2nd Logan Godin/Ryan Lane (FH Collins/Vanier)
3rd Afsal Djearam/Donald Fortune (Vanier)
U-19 mixed doubles
1st Abbie Rotond/Logan Godin (Watson Lake/FH Collins)
2nd Michaela Rotondi/Justion Dragoman (Watson Lake/Dawson)
3rd Brittney Lafferty/Ryan Lane (Vanier)
U-16 girls’ doubles
Combined with U-19 girls’ doubles division.
U-16 boys’ doubles
1st Casey Parker/Francis Belanger (Dawson/EET)
2nd Alistair Findlay Brook/Axel Riemer (Dawson)
3rd Kieran Halliday/Louis Kedziora (Vanier)
U-16 mixed doubles
1st Tia Oster/Trygg Jensen (Hidden Valley)
2nd Sara Burke-Forsyth/Felix Russell (FH Collins)
3rd Montong Javannatum/Liam Finnegan (Vanier)
U-14 girls’ doubles
1st Carolyn Miller/Charlotte Rentmeister (EET)
2nd Amy Hannon-Beattie/Sydney Young (Vanier)
3rd Autum Jules/Jacy Sam (Teslin/Selkirk Elementary)
U-14 boys’ doubles
1st Jono Runions/Kevin Mclachlan (Vanier)
2nd Clayton Mervyn/ Peter Joe Jenson (Porter Creek)
3rd Joe Wallingham/Trygg Jensen (Porter Creek/Hidden Valley)
U-12 girls’ doubles
1st Destiny Taylor/Shania Hogan (Teslin)
U-12 boys’ doubles
No entries.
Contact Tom Patrick at tomp@yukon-news.com