Two bronze medals from badminton add to overall Team BC count

By Ashley McMullin, Team BC Mission Staff

Team BC competed in three bronze medal matches today and walked away with two as the individual badminton competition of the 2015 Canada Winter Games wrapped up.  Each match went to three games as Team BC fought hard against the competitive opponents. 

After easily winning the first game of the men’s singles bronze medal match 21-13, James Ho (Surrey) had to fight off Manitoba’s Kevin Barkman as they traded points in the second.  Barkman forced the match into a third game, but Ho took control of the game early and defeated Barkman 21-7 to secure his bronze medal.

“My goal was to reach the semi finals, which I accomplished.  I didn’t expect myself to actually medal – fourth would have been a really great accomplishment for me.  I achieved more than my goal,” said Ho.  “I’m so thankful for my coaches, parents and friends who have given their time to support me.  I’m just really happy because I performed above average.”

The other bronze medal came from a nail-biting men’s doubles match where Joshua Liu (Vancouver) and Duncan Yao (Richmond) defeated a strong Team Alberta pair.  Team BC won the first game 21-19, and was down by six points early in the second until Yao went on a serving run to bring the score within one.  Team BC’s efforts couldn’t hold off Team Alberta who took the second game 18-21.  In the third, the teams traded points through out the game, but Liu and Yao came out victorious, winning 21-19.

Qingzi Ouyang (Vancouver) also played in a bronze medal match, but ended up placing fourth.  Ouyang fought back from a deficit in the first game, and though she lost the game 18-21, she carried the momentum she gained into the second where she won 21-9.  The third game was another battle to the end, pushing the game into extra points until Team Alberta’s Kyleigh O’Donoghue strung enough points together to win by two, 23-21.

Today concluded the individual competition, and the team competition gets started tomorrow.  Team BC will face off against Team Quebec and Team Nova Scotia in the pool play portion of the event.

See Canada Games live streaming at www.canadagamestv.ca and follow live updates on Twitter from @GoTeamBC with the hashtag #TBCBadminton.