OSHAWA, Ont. – Zhi Sheng Chen (Newmarket, Ont.) of the men's badminton team and
Emilee Carmichael (Stouffville, Ont.) of the women's badminton team have been named the UOIT student-athletes of the week for the period ending November 25.
Carmichael, a third-year industrial & applied mathematics student, won the B flight at the U of T Scarborough tournament, alongside her doubles partner
Alyssa Wong. After being edged in A-flight to the duo of Ahana Gosh and Charlotte Fung, Carmichael and Wong won all their B flight matches to top the division. Among their victories was a tightly matched contest against UOIT teammates
Katie Chung and
Brittney Yiu, which ended 21-18.
The story of the tournament, however, was mixed doubles. Despite being seeded tenth, the combination of Chen, a third-year mechanical engineering student, and Carmichael produced amazing chemistry, en route to an appearance in the A flight final. Kicking off the tournament with a first-round victory over teammates Vincent Chan and
Ashley Sun, the pair then ousted Ryerson's Angus Finnegan and Annie Lin, before downing Morgan Li/Nisaro Soma and Matthew Sit/Nicole Wang of York in the third round. In the final, which was limited to a one-game affair due to time constraints, Chan and Carmichael went down fighting in a 21-14 loss to York's Timbo Lam and Angela Li.
It was an outstanding effort by Chen, Carmichael and all the Ridgebacks in what the coaching staff are calling their best performance of the season thus far and a good omen for the New Year.
