Staff
After 320 matches, local badminton players emerged with their fair share of accolades at the Fort Frances Badminton Club’s annual tournament over the weekend at Fort High.
That included a handful of first-place finishes.
In the U19 girls’ division, it was an all-Fort final as Chelsea Carlson swept Kimika Alexander 2-0 (21-12/21-16).
Carlson made the championship by getting past local Jill Berry 2-0 (21-10/21-15) while Alexander swept clubmate Hannah Taylor 2-0 (21-11/21-7).
Taylor then eked out a 2-1 decision over Berry (19-21, 21-12, and 21-19) to take third place.
Carlson and Alexander teamed up to win the U13A/U16/U19 girls’ doubles event with a 2-1 victory over over Rainy River’s Courtney Hansen and Skylar Arpin by scores of 13-21, 21-15, and 21-12.
Meanwhile, Anika Alexander and Sarah Bagacki took home third place by defeating Melissa and Raylene Mason of God’s Narrows 2-0 (21-13/21-12).
In the same division, Jillian Berry and Hannah Taylor downed local Micaela Jack (playing with Winnipeg’s Francesca Chan) in the first round, but then lost both their following matches while Jack and Chan finished the tournament 1-2.
A local also emerged victorious in the U16/U19 boys’ singles division when Rory Bagacki nipped Winnipeg’s Paul Brown in the final 2-1 (22-24, 21-16, and 21-12).
Both Peter Jensen and Bryson Skirten made it out of the first round before being bumped to the consolation side while Andre Emond and Robert Stevens were out of contention after dropping their opening matches.
In U13A/U16 mixed doubles action, Andre Emond, teamed up with Winnipeg’s Lillian Lau, won the title, downing Winnipeg’s Colleen Gillespie and Paul Brown 2-0 (22-20/24-22) in the final.
Bryson Skirten, playing with Rainy River’s Courtney Hansen, ended up in third place, bumping Rainy River’s Skylar Arpin and Kenora’s Tyler Neil 2-1 (13-21, 21-9, and 21-11).
Celia Berry and Jacob Jack, meanwhile, finished at 1-2 while Sarah Bagacki and Taylor Whitehead dropped both of their matches.
There also were plenty of silver showings for local players in a variety of divisions.
In ‘B’ mixed doubles, Louis and Shari Bujold ended up second, dropping the final to Winnipeg’s Greg Chan and Selene Gan 2-0 (21-14/21-15).
Justin Rodger, matched with God’s Narrows Melissa Mason, took the consolation final after beating locals Sherri and Al Christiansen while Marty Emond and Nikki Bagacki ended up at 1-2.
In the U13A/U16 girls’ singles, Anika Alexander finished second after being edged out in a hard-fought match to Winnipeg’s Lillian Lau 2-1 (25-23, 14-21, and 21-19).
Sarah Bagacki finished at 1-2 overall, dropping her final match to Winnipeg’s Emily Gillespie 2-0 (21-17/21-9).
Locals took second and third spots in the women’s ‘B’ singles event as Winnipeg’s Salene Gan was too strong to overcome.
Nikki Bagacki came second, losing 21-7/21-13 to Gan in the final, but defeating fellow local Sherri Christiansen 2-1 (21-15, 13-21, and 21-18).
Christiansen lost her match to Gan by scors of 21-4/21-7.
As for U13B boys’ doubles, the pairing of Connor and Aaron Bujold finished at 2-1 for second place—losing only to champions Dustin and Derian Chubb of God’s Narrows.
In girls’ U13B doubles, the Nadine Watt/Marsha Andrews duo from God’s Narrows overcame both Fort Frances challenges from Caleigh Payne/Daniela Hynes and Mackenzie Wright/Naomi McManaman.
Payne/Hynes got past Wright/McManaman 2-1 (16-21, 21-8, and 21-12) to finish second.
Meanwhile, in women’s ‘A’ doubles action, Manami Alexander, playing with Winnipeg’s Melissa Liew, finished second in their round-robin, losing the tiebreaker to the Natalie Desjardins/Karina Olivares duo from Thunder Bay as all three teams finished at 1-1.
As for the women’s ‘B’ doubles, Nikki Bagacki and Shari Bujold finished second with a 2-1 record in the round-robin, losing only to champions Salene Gan and Lillian Lau 2-0 (21-8/21-3).
In U13B mixed doubles, the team of Daniela Hynes and Andrew Hanson ended up in second place with a 3-1 round-robin record while Caleigh Payne and Jordan Bruyere ended up fourth at 1-3.
Mackenzie Wright and Mike Albanese dropped all four of their matches.
In the U19 mixed doubles competition, Anika Alexander, with Winnipeg’s Bryan Liew, finished second at 3-1 overall while Kimika Alexander and Rory Bagacki were 2-2.
Jillian Berry and Peter Jensen were 1-3 overall, with Hannah Taylor and Spencer Pearce capturing the consolation final.
Still on the podium, some locals came away with third-place showings.
In U16/U19 boys’ doubles, the Andre Emond/Bryson Skirten pairing defeated the Peter Jensen/Spencer Pearce duo in the third-place match 2-1 (17-21, 21-19, and 22-20).
In the U13 boys’ ‘A’ division, Taylor Whitehead finished third, coming out of his pool but then being swept in the playoff round-robin by both Login Ginn and Tyler Neil.
Meanwhile, Jacob Jack ended up in ninth, dropping both games of his playoffs by 2-0 finals.
In men’s ‘A’ doubles, Rory Bagacki, alongside Thunder Bay’s Dan Hrychuk, won the consolation final, defeating Winnipeg’s Simon Liew and Thunder Bay’s Ari Wantoro 2-0 (21-15/21-18).
Tim Desjardins and Jamie Jensen ended up at 1-2.
In the men’s ‘B’ doubles, Justin Rodger and Dave Whitehead also took home the consolation prize with a 2-0 triump (21-15/21-19) over Lawrence Alexander and Marty Emond.
Al Christiansen, teamed up with Ignace’s Keith Drake, fell in all three of his matches.
As for the U13 boys’ singles, the local competitors all were knocked out of contention before semi-final play.
Connor Bujold and Jared Bethune fell in the quarter-finals while Jordan Bruyere, Andrew Hanson, Aaron Bujold, and Mike Albanese all were dropped to the consolation side in the first round.
Hanson ran the table from there on out, capturing the consolation final 2-0 (21-15/21-9) over Aaron Bujold.
In the U13 girls’ competition, Daniela Hynes finished fourth, falling 2-0/21-18) to Marsha Andrews of God’s Narrows in the consolation match.
Caleigh Payne and Mackenzie Wright finished fifth and sixth, respectively, with Payne taking the deciding match 2-0 (21-13/21-7).
In the 50+ men’s singles, Al Christiansen, Justin Rodger, and Dave Whitehead all won their opening round matches, but were knocked out in round two.
Christiansen was the highest local finisher, dropping the third-place match to Rainy River’s Guy Arpin 2-0 (21-18/21-13).
In U13A boys’ doubles, the local contingent had a tough time with the competition as Taylor Whitehead, teamed up with Winnipeg’s Daniel Liew, finished fourth at 1-3.
The Jacob Jack/Andrew Hanson duo ended up winless at 0-4.
And in ‘A’ mixed doubles, Manami Alexander, teamed with Kenora’s Rob Neil, finished the tournament at 1-2 while Chelsea Carlson, with Thunder Bay’s Sebastian Fuzzen, also ended up 1-2.
