VOLUME 1 ISSUE 3 Event Name Here
Badminton Canada Magazine 1
Featured Athlete
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XXII Pan Am Jr Championships - Puerto Vallarta, Mexico Contributed by Jason Ho-Shue Day 1 – Monday, July 22nd Due to the long U.S. customs and security line up, we missed our flight! I was so upset because it meant less time for me to warm up and get used to the courts there. Later, we found out there were other people going to the Pan Am Junior Championships who also missed their flight. We all ended up flying out later in the afternoon and stayed over in Houston for one night. There, we made our connecting flight the next morning to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Badminton Canada Magazine 5
Featured Athlete
Day 2 rived and was delivered to the resort! We went to the airport bright and early this time. There was no way we would miss our Day 5 - QF – All events flight again! In singles, I faced the last American standing and defeated him. In mixed doubles, we lost I sighed in relief when we had finally land- in three games to Raymond Hsia, ending with ed in Puerto Vallarta! Only later did I find 21-19. I was a little bit disappointed because I out that my luggage was lost somewhere felt like I wanted to go farther in the draw. But in Houston, Texas! My essential stuff such I could not let that affect me. I had to focus on as my tournament clothing was all in the my other events! luggage! We reported my lost luggage and later we arrived at Canto Del Sol. Day 6 – Saturday SF - Singles & Doubles I checked out the gym right away. There I was feeling determined! In singles I faced a was no air conditioning, and it was humid! Alfredo Correa who was pretty intimidating since he was very fit, but I managed to win in In the evening, we had a team meeting to two straight games. get our accreditation card and to go over some rules. Just then, we were notified that Doubles was a tougher game. We faced the the U17 Boys Singles draw had changed! 1st seed (singles), Ruben Castellanos, and his I had to re-group myself and let nothing bother me. I looked on the positive side; I still had one set of tournament clothing, all of my racquets, and my court shoes which were in my carry-on. I was determined that I could do it! Day 3 - First Day of Individual Event R2 – Singles, R1 – Mixed Doubles Finally, I started my matches! It was extremely hot and we were in the most airtight badminton facility that I ever played in. I sweated so much, that I had no choice but to wash and dry my clothes off in between matches! Day 4 R3 – Singles, R2 – MX, R2 – Doubles I continued to advance in the draw. The best thing was that my luggage finally ar6 Badminton Canada Magazine
partn We lo mina 21-10 and c
Day I wo stom abou more pare
The first seco the p and oppo could
ner, Mario Umara, who were from Guatemala. ost the first game 21-19, but we had the deteration to come back winning the second game 0. Then we were down 17-11 in the third set came back to win 21-19! I was so relieved!
7 – Finals – Singles & Doubles oke up a couple of times in the night with a mach-ache and diarrhea. But I did not think ut that too much because my coach said the e excuses you give yourself, the more preed you are to lose.
singles final was first. I managed to win the game 21-18 and I felt pumped. During the ond game, I was leading 13-11 when suddenly power went out in the facility! This gave me my opponent a half an hour break. I saw my onent looked really tired and maybe the break d have been an advantage for him. He came
back really strong, but I managed to come back again and take the second set 21-17! I was so happy but right away I had to focus on doubles, where we would face a fellow Canadian team; Austin Bauer and Ty Lindeman. We came out playing pretty strong and won the first set. But during the second set, we lacked a bit of focus and made a bit too many mistakes. We lost the second set in deuce. We felt that we needed to bring our level up and were determined to win the last set! In the end, we won the last set 21-12! Overall, this year’s Pan Am Junior Championships was not the luckiest one for me, but through all the hardships, it all turned out pretty good! “You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.” – Bob Marley Badminton Canada Magazine 7
Pan Am Event
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Badminton Canada Magazine 9
Grand Prix Event
The 2013 Canada Open Grand Prix was a tough event; despite the good competition and all the events that unfolded in the tournament, I made a big mistake of entering all 3 events (#oops). As primarily a mixed player, I was kind of stuck in the dilemma of considering that singles will help my mixed, but mixed is more like doubles than singles. Regardless,
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I couldn’t choose a second as I’ve only played a few times event so I picked all three. with Jacky Ruan, a ClearOne Badminton coach originally True story. from China, and fellow 2012 Olympian, Alex Bruce. As a result of entering 3 events, I made it past the first To my dismay, all in the same round in both singles and day, I had to play a seeded doubles and I was the only player from Austria in the sinnon-seeded team to get a gles, a young Chinese team bye in the mixed. who made the final of the previous week’s US Open in I had fairly new partnerships the mixed, and the current in both doubles and mixed, top Canadian MD team, Der-
rick Ng and Adrian Liu, in the doubles. To make matters worse, if I had somehow won the singles, I would have an additional round to play later that evening.
I made a big mistake of entering all 3 events.
#oops
I couldn’t choose a second event so I picked all three. True story.
for a couple of winners by smashing it down the line to see how much accuracy I had that day. Well, after being 0/2, I decided that it wasn’t a very lucky day for singles. I still enjoyed the match and got to run around a bit, and at least I had a few good rallies. Oh well, one and a half hours until mixed.
Mixed is my event, so it was kind of unnerving because we had a bye. The reason is that if we lost in this round, we would only get first round points, as a My first match was the sin- rule by the Badminton gles against Austria, and I’m World Federation. pretty sure he knew what he was doing, because he just It also really didn’t kept clearing me endlessly help that we had to around the court, kind of as a play last week’s fiway to ask me if I was willing nalists from the US to waste all that energy to try Open. However, Alex to win. and I didn’t enter because she was Since my opponent was ide- representing Canaally only entered in singles, da at the 2013 UniI had definitely a lot more versiade (University to lose. So, as a simple ex- Games) in Russia, periment, I decided to try so I suppose it was
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Grand Prix Event
partnership is working, to play at home and have the crowd cheering FOR you for once, and because I never want to lose in my event! The first set started off a little wonky as we were adjusting to the venue. It was Alex’s first match of the tournament and my first mixed match since the Ottawa International because I couldn’t find a partner for the US Open. We had our moments, but we ended up making a lot of mistakes and ended up losing the first set quite convincingly. However, I felt that China might let up a bit, because the rallies were choppy and they didn’t really have to work to win points. As they were still juniors, I knew there was still a very good chance to win.
just unfortunate timing of the tournaments. Nonetheless, I’m grateful that she left the University Games earlier to play the Canada Open with me, so I really didn’t want to disappoint. It was a good chance to prove that the new
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I watched them play the week before and I knew they were a good team, but I have played more tournaments than they have, so I have had a lot more experience. Perhaps I needed to use my experience, because I definitely don’t have the youth so much anymore.
The real lesson is that it can be anyone’s game. You can win just as much as you can lose.
The second set was a vast improvement and we even had the lead a few times. At the end of the second set, we had a few game points but they came back to tie it up. It’s interesting to see what goes on through people’s
Badminton Canada Magazine 13
Grand Prix Event
minds when they are at the brink of defeat, and it only takes a couple rallies to determine a winner or a loser. Unfortunately, there are no huge secrets to the way I was thinking, as I will reveal a simple lesson here: When things get tight, the last thing to worry about is winning or losing the point, because it is irrelevant; winning or losing the point is the end result. So, in terms of using experience, it is likely that nobody wants to lift the shuttle and play defense. Although it happens, it is less likely that they will freely lift something, so our focus should be more on the front or the mid-court shots.
as you can lose, and I think because I acc ed that, I was more in control to think ab what I could control, in terms of what sh wanted to hit and how I wanted to hit thi Winning or losing is never really in my c trol. It’s just the end result.
However, that’s not the entire lesson. The real lesson is that it can be anyone’s game. You can win just as much
Fortunately, things worked out, just as m as correctly calling the coin toss. How er, we knew that China wouldn’t take u
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lightly in the 3rd set and they came out quite strong. We were down significantly, but after the interval, I knew that this was the perfect time to catch up. We didn’t let up, despite a large deficit after the interval, and as we closed the gap, I could sense the Chinese team start getting more and more nervous. Before we knew it, we had closed the gap and even took the lead, getting two match points. Unfortunately, China wasn’t going to give up yet, but perhaps their efforts were a bit too much, as they hit two shots out, giving us the victory. It was a really big win for me and I will definitely cherish the victory. Special thanks to Alex and my coach Ronne!
ceptbout hots I ings. con-
My final match of the day was the doubles against Adrian and Derrick. I didn’t have so much pressure, so I used that to my advantage and my partner and I did fairly well. The scores were fairly close throughout the match, although we had leads near the ends of both matches, but we were unable to close.
much wevus so
Unfortunately, my partner rolled his ankle but we tried to continue on a few points to close the second set before for-
feiting the match, but Adrian and Derrick were able to come back and close it, with Adrian making a spectacular dive for a drop shot that didn’t quite make it over. Regardless, it was an enjoyable match overall and I would have to start preparing for the mixed quarterfinal the next day, despite having to take a drug test after the match. I suppose if I beat China in something, they suspect that I might be on drugs (#just-kidding). The mixed draw was very unfavorable for us, as we had to play against Hong Kong,
Badminton Canada Magazine 15
Grand Prix Event
who had won the US Open the week before. We did our best and even took them to set points in the first, but they were pretty solid and kept consistent throughout the second, while we made more unforced errors and couldn’t defend as well on the other side. Overall, we were fortunate to get some good matches and look forward to improving our results for the next time! The rest of the tournament went pretty smoothly, up until the Men’s Doubles final. Despite all the media coverage from that particular incident, it’s disappointing to overlook the other accomplishments by other players in the other finals that day. According to Badzine.net, the Chinese WD team won their first Grand Prix title, Tan Chun Seang [MAS] won his close 3-set Men’s Singles on his birthday, Nichaon Jinapon [THA] won her first Grand Prix title, while Hong Kong was able to win back to back US & Canada Open titles. Unfortunately, most of these accomplishments were overlooked, so I hope we can all appreciate that
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t h e re was much more that happened on that day. Overall, the entire event ran quite smoothly and I would like to thank all those who made the event possible, including Yonex and Badminton Canada and especially the fans and supporters. It was nice to see a good Canadian turn out. Until next year! Toby Ng
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National Officials
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Badminton Canada Magazine 19
Spotlight: Mike Beres
Qualifying for the Olym isn’t a choice you make a commitment you mak that you are going to de erything you have to at goal. The process is long giving everything you h final months. “It require el, playing when you ar having to perform at a t the time,” says Mike Ber with those important w difference between ma qualifying.”
But the Olympic Games icing on the cake. Traini petition before reaching requires effort and mon “Every year, you only m money to break even,” s Beres. “If you came up w funding, then you woul more tournaments. As C
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mpic Games e overnight. It’s ke to yourself edicate evttain this one g and ruthless, have in those es a lot of travre tired, and top level all res. “Coming up wins make the aking it and not
s is just the ing and comg that goal ney, a lot of it. made enough says Mike with more ld travel to Canadians, we
Spotlight: Mike Beres
don’t have enough exposure to good international players so every extra penny goes into more tournaments. You have to skimp on everything you can and you don’t have any money to do things properly. “When I started the circuit, I stayed in rooms with four people, I took long bus rides instead of flying, I didn’t always eat properly because the restaurants were too expensive. Sometimes you have to work summer jobs when it would be better to keep training. It is a balance though. I eventually learned it was better to go to one less tournament a year and make sure when I was on the court that I had prepared for it well. Sometimes that meant spending a little more on things so I wasn’t stressed or tired while competing.” Canada is much further away from
neighboring countries, making it harder to find a high number of Elite players. Overseas, countries in Europe are a quick train ride away from each other. In comparison, athletes in Canada travel between provinces the way athletes in Europe and Asia travel between countries. “It’s always hard to feel prepared for that level of [International] competition because we never get to play against it on a day-to-day basis,” Beres states. “That is why we have to travel overseas so much. That’s why some choose to train outside of Canada. I think in Canada because of not getting the highest level of daily sparring (and strong local tournaments) that it takes a long time to develop as a player. What we do in Canada to attend a national level tournament may be more than Europeans would have to do for an international one.”
Badminton Canada Magazine 21
Spotlight: Mike Beres
The vast amount of distance athletes have to travel in Canada is the same for every sport, and finding out how to manage sport with this major factor is very difficult. “I think a lot of times, we try to make changes to improve things. [But] I don’t think we need to radically re-invent the wheel every time we try to improve badminton’s success at any level,” says Beres. “Many times it feels like we are starting from scratch and so nothing ever really grows. I would like to see more building on the things we already do.” One of those things Badminton Canada finds important is sending Canadian players overseas to major events. It’s important for any player travelling overseas to get the most of these experiences. When they cost as much as they do, squeezing as much training, learning and sparring opportunities
out of those dollars is key to making the most out of your travel. “It was so great for our women’s doubles in London. They got to play six top-level opponents at one event! If only that were the case every time we play a tournament. When we go to tournaments, we try to find practice matches, but it isn’t easy to align schedules or get the other players to agree to play with us. It’s tiring work arranging it and it doesn’t always work out,” Beres states. By travelling to International events, athletes also get the experience of seeing different playing styles from other countries, taking a bit of each game back with them to improve their own. Having the opportunity to play at not one, but three Olympic Games also gives you valuable International experience. “At each Olympics, I felt
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like I was playing my personal best. I had really focused on the event with preparation; nutrition, physical training and training camps, and not being distracted with other competitions,” Beres
“What we do in Canada to attend a national level tournament may be more than Europeans would have to do for an international one.” says. “It was really a great feeling to know I was playing the best I could at the time, and that I didn’t have to look back and say, “What if…?”. Playing at the Olympics surely is the ultimate athlete’s
Spotlight: Mike Beres
dream, but they have to start somewhere. “I was training at the National Training Centre in Calgary when I was nineteen. I played Beijing when I was thirty-five,” says Beres. “I felt that I was still improving even at that age. I didn’t really want to quit because I thought I could still get better.” But every athlete’s dream also comes to an end. “It was time to move on for financial reasons and I wanted to start a family,” says Beres. Focused on his career in the financial industry, Beres has set aside the world of badminton for the past four years. “I am now a father of two. My wife Jo-Anne and I were married during the Beijing Olympic qualifying period. We have two sons, Clark (age four) and Dean (age one). We live in Kanata, ON.
I started working for TD Waterhouse in Ottawa three weeks after coming back from Beijing and am still there. With a new family I am very busy and I hope to raise my career in the investment or banking world. I do see myself becoming engaged in badminton again regularly, as long as my body can keep up with what my head thinks I can still do. I love this sport and don’t like being away from it. My family will always be my first priority though, and for now, it takes up most of my time.”
Beres offers some very experienced advice, “Above all, enjoy what you are doing. Don’t get too focused that you forget to enjoy the big picture experience. Make sure you take the time to evaluate your own game and understand where your time will be spent most effectively. Find out what is right for you. Everyone is different and has different needs. These needs change over time as well. Take advantage of or make the right opportunities happen when you need them.”
Still a wealth of knowledge,
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Being an Ottawa local, when I fo ing to be held here, I was ecstat of excitement and an even grea this tournament.
The preparation towards the better than I had anticipated. N work of England landed a few da enough to train with us. Practici ful because it gave us a good i badminton.
The event itself was a great exp to play the first seed, and even erlands. It was a very tough ma happy to have stretched the ma
In the end, Pang was the better
International Event
ound out the tournament was gotic. I had an overwhelming feeling ater desire to perform my best at
tournament was actually much Nathan Robertson and Jenny Wallays early in Ottawa and were kind ing with them was extremely useidea of the pace of international
perience for me. I had the chance ntual winner, Eric Pang of Nethatch for me, and I was extremely atch out to three sets.
r player on court.
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International Event
As for the doubles, my partner Sergiy Shatenko and I made it to the semi-finals where we lost to a team from Chinese Taipei in two hard fought games. It was amazing to be able to play against players of that caliber, and knowing that we are not actually too far behind. Something important that I learned was that we need to play at a higher pace in Canada in order to beat these top players. Right now, it seems as if the top players have the ability to play at a higher gear than us. It was motivating to see quite a few of the Canadian participants performing so well. Canada as a country is slowly improving on the international badminton scene. We are not very far behind! by Andrew D’Souza Watch Andrew and his partner, Sergiy talk about the Ottawa International with CTV Morning Live in these videos:
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Event Name Here
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Universiade
How can I describe the 2013 Universiades in Kazan?
very delicious, and they were available all the times and satisfied to many tastes.
Wow, what a unique experience. From beginning to the end, everything was amazing. The reception at the airport was quite impressive. Many volunteers were present to greet us and cheer us. On our way to the athletes’ village, we could see that the games advertising were everywhere.
There were several key places in the village to take souvenir pictures. There were also small “karts” to bring us from a site to another in the village. We could take bicycles any time to promenade.
The athletes’ village was really well organized. The rooms were very good too. The food was
There were basketball courts and outdoor volleyball and lots of fun and games for the athletes to play around the village. Aside from that,
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Universiade
there were a lot of people! The opening ceremony was probably the most impressive thing in the Games. Unfortunately, we could not attend full ceremony, because our competition would start very early in the next morning. However, we could make the parade. Even though it was short, it was pretty unforgettable. The stadium was full and the decor was magnificent. We would have liked to stay to the end, but our duty obliged us to go to bed earlier. The competition was organized and run very
The competition was very fierce and several Olympic athletes were there. We met a lot of people such as volunteers, athletes and our attaches. Many connections have been created, and I think I spoke to everyone that it was an unforgettable experience. It was only a few minutes to walk to downtown, where the streets were crowded with athletes, volunteers and tourists at any hour of day. At the end of our competition, we were able to enjoy our day to encourage other Canadi-
“It’s really motivating to see the whole team encouraging us during the games, and even Canadian athletes of other sports came to encourage.”
well. Everyone tried their best. Personally, I loved the atmosphere during the competition. It’s really motivating to see the whole team encouraging us during the games, and even Canadian athletes of other sports came to encourage.
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an athletes. We saw tennis, beach volleyball, the indoor volleyball, water polo, soccer, and more. We were quite sad to leave this unreal atmosphere, especially the athletes’ village and everything we experienced inside.
THE CANADIAN BADMINTON TEAM FINISHED 14TH OVERALL
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Sudirman cup
I was very excited to be a part of the Sudirman Cup team. I had been very close to be on one of the major team events last year (I was a backup for the Pan-American Championships team event), and team events in general are
“Being part of a
greater unit than yourself always makes every
game more meaningful, exciting
and emotional.” something I’m always looking forward to. Being part of a greater unit than yourself always makes every game more meaningful, exciting and emotional. It was also a good opportunity for me to test my skills against some of
world’s best teams.
contest with a chance to win some tickets for the games. I knew badAs I arrived in Kuala Lumpur, minton was huge in Malaysia but it was very obvious that this seeing it in person was special. event was going to be a hard test on many levels. First of Also, most of the biggest names in all, the heat and humidity in- the sport were going to play right dex were going to be major next to us. I knew I was going to factors in my preparation. The have a hard time to stay focused temperature on an average and be ready play with all of that day was about 35 degrees happening around me. Celsius and incredibly humid, so it felt like over 50 degrees! As everyone on the team arrived, it was clear that it was going to I know my body cannot cope be a cool tournament to be in. well with high heat due to ex- Everyone got along quite well treme sweating, therefore I and we were able to have some knew I was in serious trouble very good training sessions to if I wanted to be competitive fine-tune our games before on game day. Luckily, there our first bout. Our hotel was was still 5 days before our first very comfortable and air-contie. ditioned, we had easy access to food, massages, the pool Secondly, I realized right and the fitness facility. After a away the scope and serious- couple of days, we were ready ness of the event. There was to begin with our first tie. some advertising for the [Sudirman] Cup inside the There were three groups: the airport and there was a radio first 12 teams with the high-
Team Photo (left) from left to right: BACK Philippe Charron, Martin Guiffre, Alex Pang, Toby Ng, Derrick Ng FRONT Alex Bruce, Joycelyn Ko, Christin Tsai, Grace Gao, Phyllis Chan, Michelle Li 32 Badminton Canada Magazine
Sudirman cup
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Sudirman cup
“I realized right away the scope and seriousness of the event. I knew badminton was huge in Malaysia but seeing it in person was special.� Left: Lee Chong Wei is characterized on a water bottle, which was distributed at the event. Below: Team Canada gets silly as they pose for a team picture, imitating the Petronas Towers.
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es ne C. gr a d p
Sudirman cup
st rankings were put in group 1, the ext 8 in group 2, the last 10 in group . We were in one of two pools in roup 2 with France, the Netherlands and Austria. Scotland, Russia, Sweden and the U.S.A. were in the other pool.
game, which was the first of the tie. Phyllis Chan and I played brilliantly, winning in two straight games the opener.
“It had been a tough week for
We were tested right away on the us: we finished first day with a tough loss to France. They came up very strong in the 18th, having won first three matches, winning mixed doubles, men’s singles then men’s only one tie against doubles. We were redeemed by a Austria. Despite strong performance in the women’s singles and women’s doubles, that, we had bringing the score 2-3 and giving some very excitus a chance to get in front in case of a three-way tie.
ing matches and
After a day’s break, we had another heartbreaking loss to the Netherlands. Again, they took an early lead and despite another great game by Michelle Li in singles, we were unable to come back and lost 4-1. We now had one last chance to finish third in the pool in our last tie against Austria.
played fiercely throughout the tournament.”
to finally lose 3-2. It had been a tough week for us: we finished 18th, having won only one tie against Austria. Despite that, we had some very exciting matches and played fiercely throughout the tournament. It was now time to enjoy our time in Malaysia and watch the rest of the games. China won the tournament decisively, winning their semi-finals 3-1 against Denmark and the final 3-0 against Korea. Every game on every tie featured some of the world’s best teams and a lot of ties were decided on the very last game, especially Thailand against Japan and Denmark against Chinese Taipei. We also had time to do some sightseeing, and the Batu Caves on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur might be one of the most majestic things I have ever seen.
The rest of the team followed with strong performances in all four games, earning us a 4-1 victory. That gave us the number 3 spot in the pool, which meant we were going to play for ranks 17-18 against It had been a great experiSweden for our last game of ence for me: I was blessed of the tournament. being a part of a good Canadian team that gave it all on We put on a tough fight, win- every game. The tournament ning women’s singles, men’s itself was incredible and I am doubles and losing women’s looking forward to go in anI was very nervous doubles, men’s singles and other big event like this in the at the start of my mixed doubles in the decider future.
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Event Name Here
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ParaBadminton
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