Lucas Punkari
Although the overall numbers were down from what they have been in the past, another enjoyable and competitive weekend was had by all who took part in the Fort Frances Badminton Club’s annual invitational tournament in the Fort High gym this weekend.
“We had 57 participants in total, and 20 of them were from our local club,” Louis Bujold, who coaches the club here and put on the event along with his wife, Shari, explained.
“We also had people from Manitoba, Ignace, Atikokan and a group of university kids from Thunder Bay take part, and that made for a competitive tournament,” he added.
Of the 20 participants from here, 14 of them were new to the club this year and were competing for the first time in a tournament such as the one here.
“We have a lot of young kids here with the club, and this weekend was great in terms of exposure for them,” Bujold explained.
“They have a chance to see a lot of good players, and they also get a chance to see where the game can take them,” he added.
Local participants who finished in the top three in their category were as follows:
•Men’s ‘A’ Singles: Taylor Whitehead (second);
•Men’s ‘B’ Singles: Louis Bujold (first) and Greg Stahn (third);
•Men’s ‘A/B’ Doubles: Louis Bujold/Greg Stahn (third);
•Boys’ ‘U16’ Singles: Aaron Bujold (first), Connor Bujold (second), and Chandler Clugston (third);
•Boys’ ‘U13’ Singles: Josh Supinski (second) and Tristen Whitehead (third);
•Women’s ‘B’ Singles: Shari Bujold (third);
•Women’s ‘B’ Doubles: Molly Bartlett/Kate Bartlett (first), Shari Bujold/Sherri Christiansen (second), and Nicole Pitrowski/Hillary Hansen (third);
•Women’s ‘U19’ Doubles: Taly Jernberg/Sarah Angus (third);
•Girls’ ‘U13’ Singles: Simone Payne (first), Kaitlyn Bruyere (second), and Samara Payne (third);
•Mixed ‘A/B’ Doubles: Louis Bujold/Shari Bujold (second); and
•Mixed ‘U19’ Doubles: Jacob Schick/Nicole Pitrowski (third)
