For immediate release

February 14, 2011

Eagles badminton teams finds silver lining at BCCAA Provincial Championships

(METRO VANCOUVER, B.C.) In a tournament filled with upset and injury, the Kwantlen Eagles battled through the British Columbia Colleges’ Athletic Association (BCCAA) Provincial Championships this past weekend to win silver medals in three events: Gurdeep Basran (women’s singles), Jensen Ly/Ashley Jang (mixed doubles) and Michelle Simard/Charlette Rosales (women’s doubles). This qualifies the Eagles as members of the British Columbia Wildcard Team, and a ticket to compete at the 2011 CCAA National Badminton Championships, hosted by Mt Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick on March 3-5, 2011.

Although the defending national champions and hosts Douglas Royals dominated the tournament, the most inspirational players of the event were Eagles mixed doubles players Jensen Ly (Calgary) and Ashley Jang (Richmond), who fought to keep their national dreams alive after Ashley suffered a knee injury in the first game of the tournament.

“When Ashley hurt herself, we had to shift gears,” said Ly. “The plan was to play my game, not focus on the fact that she was hurt and be there to support her” said Ly. “Going to nationals means a lot more, knowing what we had to battle through to qualify.” The team of Ly/Jang won the silver medal in eight games, defeating Douglas College, Capilano University, Langara College and Thompson Rivers University.

Joining Ly and Jang on the BC Wildcard team is Michelle Simard (Surrey) and Charlette Rosales (Richmond) who placed second in women’s doubles and Gurdeep Basran (Surrey), silver medalist in women’s singles. Both Jang and Simard have national experience, qualifying in 2010 when they paired up to win a CCAA bronze medal in women’s doubles.

The Eagles completed the 2010-2011 BCCAA season finishing second overall in the team competition. The roster, which was assembled with a mixture of veteran players including fourth year, Simon Wu (Langley), Willis Kwee (Richmond) and strong first-year talent such as Rosales (Richmond) and Andrew Li (Richmond), is the third consecutive Eagles squad to complete the season with a second place overall finish, each year behind the reigning national champion Douglas Royals of New Westminster.

Kwantlen Polytechnic University has been serving the Metro Vancouver region for 30 years, and has opened doors to success for more than 200,000 people. Four campuses—Richmond, Surrey, Cloverdale and Langley—offer a comprehensive range of sought-after programs including business, liberal arts and science, design, health, trades and technology, apprenticeships, horticulture, and academic and career advancement. Over 17,000 students annually have a choice from over 135 programs including bachelor’s degrees, associate degrees, diplomas, certificates and citations.

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For more information about this story and/or Kwantlen, contact:
Joanne Saunders
Director, Marketing and Communications
Tel: 604.599.2243
joanne.saunders@kwantlen.ca