by Shaun Thiessen
Contributor, Black Press
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Badminton action continued in session 2 on Saturday, with some exciting matches in the afternoon.
The feature Team Match in session 2 had the matchup of Vancouver-Squamish (Zone 5) vs Fraser Valley (Zone 3).
Yoko Ujike (Zone 5) defeated Coco Lee in two sets – 21-14, 21-3 – in girl's singles. Early in the match the score was very close, with Yoko and Coco trading points back and forth, but eventually Yoko pulled away to take the first set and eventually the match.
In boys doubles competition, De Silva/Dong (Zone 5) defeated Liang/Mai in two sets – 21-19, 21-9.
It looked like Liang and Mai were going to overcome a five-point deficit in the first set but they ended up narrowly losing the first set, 21-19. In the second set De Silva and Dong built an early 9-0 lead and finished the match off with a convincing 21-9 defeat.
Wang/Yau (Zone 5) defeated Zhao/Dionisio (Zone 3) – 21-11, 21-7 – in a girls doubles match to put Zone 5 in front 4-2 and clinch the win over Zone 3.
The mixed doubles match between Huang/Buss (Zone 5) and Chan/Hu (Zone 3) was an exciting matchup to end session 2. Huang and Buss won the first set 21-19 in a very close battle. Chan and Hu took the second set 21-15 setting up a great third set between the two teams. Early in the third set the score was 5-5. Huang and Buss took a 11-8 lead to the break for a court change.
When play resumed, Chan and Hu battled back and took a 14-13 lead before eventually winning 21-18.
Michael Chan had a very strong game and really took the match over midway through the second set.
"We decided to drive the birdie more to the back court and the momentum swung our way," said Chan. "We were very confident we could come back".
The last session for Badminton starts at 5:00 PM on Saturday.