Piano Man James Ho leads BC Badminton to undefeated first day of competition

James Ho (Surrey) is not only a talented badminton player, but he’s also an accomplished pianist. Just before Ho stepped onto the badminton court for his first game of the Western Canada Summer Games, Ho was stroking the piano keys and entertaining onlookers in the lobby of the Macdonald Island Park facility. 

Hopping up from the piano bench, he took the court and joined his partner Joshua Liu (Vancouver) in a victories against Yukon’s men’s doubles team (21-9 and 21-5) and Saskatchewan’s men’s doubles team (21-8 and 21-6).  Ho also competed as an individual against Saskatchewan’s Brandon Redekop, where he won 21-12 and 21-16. 

The individual match was Ho’s toughest of the day, and he had to make some mid-game adjustments to his style of play in order to pull out the win. “I always play my best style and if it doesn’t work, I do something else. It didn’t work this time, so I just slowed things down, and I took my time… I try to think before I do, instead of just do.” 

His teammates pulled off similar victories, winning every match they each played. Strong individual women’s showings from Samantha Zheng (Vancouver) and Kylie Cheng (Vancouver) helped round off a great day for Team BC. 

“What I love about badminton is that there’s never just one style of play, everybody’s different – it’s very unique that way,” Ho said. “Nobody likes to do the same thing over and over!” 

Having competed at the 2015 Canada Winter Games in Prince George, Ho is familiar with the multisport games environment and loves cheering on other teams at various sport competitions. He’s most looking forward to attending baseball and swimming – “Baseball because I’ve never really been to a real game before, and swimming because I heard their fans are really loud at cheering, and I want to be involved in that.”