Narwal, Chen high school badminton champs

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This article was published 06/05/2023 (1231 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A back injury wasn’t going to stop Ranya Narwal from bringing home a gold medal from the Manitoba High School Badminton provincials.

The Grade 11 student from Fort Richmond Collegiate wasn’t moving at her usual pace, and even winced with pain at times on the court.

“I’m probably playing at 30 or 40 per cent,” said Narwal, whose father Rahul had an Icy Hot patch waiting for her on the bench at the Sport for Life Centre.

The thing about Narwal is even when she’s far from 100 per cent, she can still dominate. Narwal, who suffered the setback prior to the event, fought through the adversity and defeated Swan Valley’s Crystal Zamzow in straight sets (21-16, 21-10) in Saturday afternoon’s varsity girls provincial final.

“It feels amazing. For me, provincials means being No. 1 in Manitoba so it’s a big deal,” said Narwal, who captured the junior varsity crown last year.

It wasn’t a surprise to see Narwal outlasting her competition as she also won the Manitoba Badminton Association’s under-19 provincial championship last week.

Not even playing against older players slows her down. She trains six days a week at Prairie Badminton.

“I’m very proud of her. She really trains hard not only for provincials, but in general she trains quite hard,” said Rahul.

“Definitely her main goal is to be a part of the Canadian team and play nationals and win nationals. There’s still a long way to go, but she’s working hard for that.”

Narwal grew up in India and picked up a racquet for the first time when she was 11. A year later, the family immigrated to Winnipeg. For Narwal, the sport has helped her feel comfortable in a new country.

“It has opened a lot of doors. If you only have school as the only place where you can meet people, it gets hard,” Narwal said.

“But then with badminton, I meet other people, It’s a good community and has helped me adjust very quickly.”

The varsity boys gold went to Evan Chen, a Grade 12 student at St. Paul’s, who beat Maples Collegiate’s Takashi Kisaku 21-12, 21-11 in the final match.

Chen had to miss last year’s provincials as he was playing in a national tournament.

“It feels good to finally represent the school because I’ve never represented the school for badminton yet. This is my last year and I think it’s nice to bring something back,” said Chen.

Similar to Narwal, Chen, 18, also won the MBA’s under-19 title last week.

Chen used to train in Taekwondo before making the switch to badminton when he was 11.

“He’s kind of got the total package for the sport. He’s got quickness, he can hit all the shots, and has a lot of power for a guy his size. And he’s smart on the court,” said St. Paul’s badminton coach Raj Sharma.

“There’s tons of really good kids here in this tournament, but he’s at a different level.”

A provincial championship is likely in the cards for Chen’s 13-year-old brother Anson one day. Anson is going to school and training in Malaysia this year to help take his game to another level.

“When he gets back, he should be able to beat me. Or get close,” said Chen.

In varsity girls doubles action, Ecole Regional Notre Dame’s Anne Dizengremel and Lyka Pagcaliwagan finished in first after getting past Kristy Stutsky and Althea Gonowon of Vincent Massey High School (Brandon) in the final.

College Beliveau’s Michael Hao and Kaden Buhler won boys doubles gold thanks to a victory over Quinton Cheung and Edison Lam of St. Maurice High School.

The mixed doubles championship went to JH Bruns Collegiate’s Rylee Normand and Justin Joubert as they defeated Madden Wiebe and Rowan Friesen from Garden Valley Collegiate.

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31