Joey Payeur
One had plenty of reason to be ticked for the second-straight year while the other just was tickled to be there.
The emotions were diverse for the two local representatives in the men’s singles division at the OFSAA badminton championships in Pain Court last week.
For Muskie Aaron Bujold, a week that began so promisingly ended with frustration and a 2-3 overall record.
Making his third-straight OFSAA appearance, the Grade 11 athlete had a first-round bye, then rallied to beat Jeff Zhang (WOSSAA) by a 2-1 margin in the second round (15-21, 21-15, and 21-19).
That put Bujold into a most difficult matchup against the top-ranked player in the division, Brian Yang (York Region Athletic Association), who rolled to a 21-10, 21-6 victory.
Moving down to the ‘B’ draw, Bujold topped Augusta Li (LOSSA) in another comeback effort (21-23, 21-11, and 21-18) to leave himself in medal contention with one more victory.
But against an unidentified Toronto-based opponent, Bujold found himself embroiled in a controversy that did not go his way as he fell 2-1 (13-21, 21-16, and 21-18).
“At the beginning of the tournament, the head umpire said there was to be no coaching allowed after someone reached 11 points in the third set,” Bujold noted.
“I was on a good roll and had passed 11, and [my opponent] started losing his temper.
“His coach came out and I told him he wasn’t allowed to do that, and the coach said he had asked the match umpire.
“I told the match umpire about what the head umpire said at the start–and he said that’s not what he heard,” added Bujold.
“The guy got back in the game after that.
“It was a Toronto player and a Toronto umpire,” he fumed.
“I got screwed over in that one and the other guy ended up going to the ‘B’ finals.”
Bujold, along with his dad and coach for the week, Louis Bujold, went and found the head umpire after the match, who agreed the coaching stoppage never should have happened.
“You can complain officially to OFSAA, but you have to pay a $50 fee to do so and my dad said we weren’t going to do it because we weren’t going to get anything out of it anyway,” noted Bujold, who had a similar occurrence happen to him at the all-Ontarios last year.
“If I had won my last one, I would have got antique bronze [fourth place in the draw],” he recalled.
“I was on a roll again against the guy and he faked an injury, and said he had a cramp that delayed the match 10 minutes,” added Bujold.
“That got me off my game and I ended up losing.”
Bujold pulled no punches on the approach of some of the southern Ontario schools to OFSAA.
“It’s not good sportsmanship at all,” he charged. “They’ll cheat and do anything to win.
“But you’ve got to play through it.”
The loss moved Bujold to the ‘B’ consolation bracket, where he unexpectedly ran into the unidentified No. 3 seed in the division, who surprisingly had lost his first two matches.
“It wasn’t even close,” Bujold admitted about his 2-0 loss (21-12/21-8).
After a fantastic season that saw him go undefeated through both NorWOSSA and NWOSSAA without dropping a set, Bujold has elected to take his OFSAA experience and make it fuel for next year’s fire.
“This time just showed how close I am to getting into the medals,” he remarked.
“It’s going to make me work that much harder to get back there again next year so when I get in those tough situations, I’ll be better.”
Owl wins one
Jackson Arpin of the Rainy River Owls, meanwhile, had a far less painful experience at OFSAA despite posting a 1-4 record.
“I was pretty nervous in my first game,” admitted the Grade 10 student, who lost to Mackenzie Bergen-Truscott (WOSSAA) in his opening match.
“But I wasn’t nervous after that and settled in,” he added.
“I stuck with the guys and had a lot of close games.”
Arpin dropped his second match to Lewis Lui (GBSSA) in the ‘B’ draw, then stayed alive with his first career OFSAA win by sweeping Joseph Lu (CWOSSA) in the first round of the ‘C’ draw (21-17/21-16).
“I was pretty pumped at the end of that one,” said Arpin, who then dropped his next two matches (opponents unidentified at press time) to be eliminated from further contention.
“My drop shot was pretty effective during the week but the other players were stronger and quicker,” noted Arpin, who finished second at NorWOSSA and then third at NWOSSAA.
But he got the nod to attend OFSAA when NWOSSAA silver-medalist Yaman Malhi was unable to because of other commitments.
“I think my experience this year will help a lot knowing how hard playing at OFSAA can be and how hard I have to work to play at this level,” Arpin said.
His coach and father, Guy, was elated at his son’s performance.
“The trip was exactly what I had hoped it would be,” he remarked.
“It was very educational and beneficial to Jackson as a badminton player with a great deal of potential,” he contended.
“He played very well against very skilled opponents and was in every match.
“His final record showed one win with four losses, but his game improved so much from the start of the tournament until the end,” the elder Arpin stressed.
“In this case, success cannot be judged by the win-loss record.”
