–Priyanna cops three medals

THE Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference’s Athlete-of-the-Year winner, Narayan Ramdhani, maintained his dominance in badminton when he won gold in the Men’s Singles to help lift the King’s University Eagles to their first-ever ACAC League championship title.

Narayan was not the only Ramdhani who excelled; his sister Priyanna Ramdhani also held her own and won three medals for her Olds College team.

She played against Makayla Basque and won 21-7, 21-9 in Round One before she defeated Abbey Taylor 21-8, 21-9 in the quarterfinals. She then lost to Jasleen Kaur 21-16, 21-13 in the semi-finals but gained a walk-over from Cecilia Wolski to win 3rd place.

Priyanna won two other medals for Olds College, who placed 4th in the Team’s tournament.

She and Abbey Taylor won silver in the women’s doubles, while in the mixed doubles she won bronze with Tye Belanger.

Narayan’s dominance
After disposing of Sivansh Shivansh (21-12, 21-18) and David Jay (21-12, 21-16), Narayan defeated Smith Patel (21-18, 9-21, 21-17) in a tough final to claim the men’s single ACAC title for the second time in his college career.

The win helped his school to an overall victory.

Coach of his school, Naeem Haque said: “Our goal at the start of the season was to win gold. I’m proud of my team and how they performed. We’ve only been in the league seven years, so to win against a powerhouse like NAIT is a great accomplishment”.

The Eagles took home bronze in the years 2017 to 2020 (there was no league play in 2021 due to COVID-19 regulations). Haque added that NAIT has always been the strongest team as it was only two years ago that Concordia finally beat them after an eight-year winning streak.

Meanwhile, a memorial table was on display and a moment of silence was observed for the siblings’ father, the late Gokarn Ramdhani as the Provincial Tournament was held at Olds College where he worked as a Head/Technical Coach from 2019-2021.

The Ramdhani siblings are scheduled to represent Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) at Nationals (CCAA) on March 17, 18, and 19, 2022. Then later in April, the siblings will compete at the Pan Am Individual Championship in El Salvador.