It’s going to take something monumental to knock the Eagles off their provincial perch.
The Edison School Eagles extended their remarkable run of success at the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association Provincial Badminton Championships with a 12th straight 1A banner in the team event on Saturday at Edmonton’s Saville Centre.
“Everyone expects us to win and when we do win it feels good,” said Aniket Korotane, a Grade 11 student. “If we did lose the banner one year, it would be devastating, it would be embarrassing as well, like we let the school down in some way.
“And I think that pressure drives everyone in the school, other schools respect us for winning the banner so many times.”
Edison had 10 athletes contribute to the team banner in which each win in both singles and doubles matches accumulates points. The Eagles’ 38 points were 26 more than their next closest competition at the 1A level.
“It means a lot,” said Edison Grade 11 student Saffi Malmqvist-Lund said. “I think we’re all pretty proud that we won the banner and it just feels good because we all had to work together to win it.”
Four doubles teams and two singles competitors, Eugene Sun and Shamiksha Sahoo, made up the Eagles contingent in Edmonton.
“This was my first year going to provincials and it was pretty exciting,” said Sahoo, a Grade 10 student. “When I train, I don’t get to play with people that are ranked top-10 in Alberta, so it was playing against new people.
“My coach Mr. (Billy) Gilliland, he told me I was playing even more skilled than I was during training. Having better competition, I could feel myself trying new shots that I wouldn’t try against someone easier.”
Korotane and Malmqvist-Lund teamed up in the intermediate mixed doubles, posting two wins in four matches. The other teams included Efe Koksal and Ben Zwanepoel, in intermediate boys doubles, Ata Koksal and Edgar Skliarov in junior boys doubles along with Lauren Maheux and Jasmine Toukabri in junior girls doubles.
“Last year, I played singles and this year wanted to try something new, so I played mix,” said Malmqvist-Lund. “It was a lot of fun, I enjoyed playing with a partner on the court and enjoyed that it was a different kind of competition than playing singles.
“It was a different kind of game style in general and we had good competition.”
“It was educational,” added Efe Koksal, a Grade 11 student. “There was good competition, there was a lot of people, new faces, and making new friends. There were hard games.”
Edison wasn’t the only Okotoks area school to come home with a banner in hand.
Edison wasn’t the only Okotoks area school to come home with a banner in hand.
The Strathcona-Tweedsmuir School Spartans earned their third straight 2A banner with 20 points won in the team event, two ahead of second place Kate Andrews.
“The path to provincials is particularly challenging for STS players as we need to battle talented Edison players right from the beginning, in divisionals,” said STS coach Jason Boothman. “Having five players across all three senior divisions qualify for the provincial tournament really speaks to the dedication and determination of the STS team.”
Avinash Murthy, Isabelle Rutz, Michael Liu, Veer Kadam and Amy Ding all competed in singles events and contributed points to the team event.
Murthy, a Grade 12 student, has been a part of all three badminton provincial championship teams from 2022-24.
“Badminton is often thought of as an individual sport, however the STS players were so supportive and encouraging of each other, with cheerleading, strategy, and hugs for each other no matter the outcome of matches,” the coach added.
Individually, Okotoks also earned silverware.
The Holy Trinity Academy Knights’ Grade 12 team of Sam Stadnyk and Jacques Henning won bronze in the senior boys doubles event.
The duo posted a 5-1 record at provincials and came from behind to win a three-set thriller in the bronze medal final over the Nelson Mandela High School squad.
In the junior mixed doubles event, HTA’s Grade 10 team of Sarah Joy and Ian Henning advanced to the quarterfinal round with a 2-2 record in Edmonton.
High River’s Notre Dame Collegiate Timberwolves also had a strong showing.
France Sancio won bronze in the junior boys singles event with the Grade 12 team of Johan Estrada and Gracyn Sekura posting a 2-2 record in the senior mixed doubles.
For more information on the event, go to asaa.ca/championships.
