The UCSD Badminton Team has begun launching into action after a quiet summer, this time featuring a fresh stalk of new talents in the form of freshmen and transfers. The team is fortified by the enthusiastic newcomers who are eager to prove themselves in this first open tournament and UCSD carries high hopes for the first outing of the year.
The UCSD Badminton Team features 22 players in Bruin Open and among them 5 are seeded. Transfer student Ronald Sou, the former U19 Junior National Champion Men's Singles champion, is seeded first in B Men's Singles. Graduate student Po-Ting Chen is seeded second in B Mixed Doubles with his sister Kuei-Ya Chen. In D Men's Doubles, junior Siavash Assar and sophomore Jonathan Lin are given the mission of justifying their top seed position.
Janvier Wijaya, the current coach of UCSD Badminton Team who is still recovering from a shoulder surgery, faces an uphill task in the first round of A Men's Singles as he is pit against the top seed, a former Malaysian national player, Lee Hock Lai. Similarly, freshmen twins Nina and Hannah Wang are set to face the top seed pair in the first round of C Women's Doubles but if they clear this hurdle, they are in good position to reach the final and fight for the title. After a year of hiatus from badminton, junior David Lee returns and partners up with senior Jonathan Lee, attempting a run for the B Men's and C Men's Doubles crown. Juniors George Hong and Alan Liu are set to face another experienced UCSD pair in the quarter final of the A Men's Doubles flight, Janvier Wijaya and Sutanto Wibowo, if the latter can secure a victory over UCSD Badminton Team's former captain, Victor Liu, in the first round. The winner of the quarter final will set up a semi final clash against the formidable Howard and Jack Hsu.
Freshmen Pierre Lau, Dana, Patrick Liu, Michael Chu, Kevin Yang, Aaron Lee, Nick Tran, Sophia Li, and Ryan Jang set out to test their skills in this tournament and this will serve as a source of experience for the green-horns in college badminton. Bruin Open will serve as nothing more than a warm up and a training ground for the players preparing for many battles that are yet to come in the year and a brilliant performance by the players in this tournament will start the season with a high note and in style.
Article by Franco Ooi