OSHAWA, Ont. – The Ontario Tech badminton team is preparing to take on the best from around the OUA when they head to York University for the OUA Badminton Championships.

Last year, the Ridgebacks badminton program began to make waves at the OUA Championships, with dual-sport athlete Jailyn Joensen being named an OUA Badminton All-Star, her second All-Star nod of the year following her impressive showing at the OUA Lacrosse Championship. The Ridgebacks followed that up with two gold medals at the 2024 YONEX Canadian University & College Badminton Championships when Chloe Hoang and Joshua Nguyen picked up men's and women's singles wins.

This year, the Ridgebacks will be sending Kartiki Balsekar, Althea Bantianticola, Christina Cho, Chloe Hoang, Jailyn Joensen, Venuga Kariharan, Mashal Niazi, and Hetvi Vaghela for the women.

For the men, they'll be sending Dilran Ambalangoda Waduge, Muhamad Gafoor, Sam Lat Yone, Duy Ly, Eddie Ly, Joshua Nguyen, Ahan Patel, Kingsley Qiu, Bryan Zhang, and Jason Zhou.

The Championships begin this weekend on Friday, February 7 at the Tait McKenzie Centre in Toronto, Ont.