Saturday, Nov 16, 2024
Rally Niagara Badminton - Rally Niagara Cup Winners - Fall 2024
Rally Niagara hosted the semi-annual Rally Niagara Cup Open Badminton Tournament on Saturday, Nov 16th. 100 players / 58 teams participated from various locals in the Northeast that included Southern Ontario, Ohio, and various areas of NY state that included Brooklyn, Binghamton, Albany, Syracuse, Rochester, and Western New York. The tournament featured 5 events starting at 8:30 AM with Men's and Women's singles play in the morning followed by Men's and Women's doubles in the afternoon and lastly Mixed doubles in the evening. The game play was intense with some surprises. Many matches went to 3 games during the event. Powered by Ryan Fong (Rally Niagara) and the upcoming men's doubles team of Dan Hacker & Eric Hong (Rally Niagara) Rally Niagara secured 7.5 points to take back the Rally Niagara Cup (pictured above) from the University of Rochester. 🙂
See results, scores, and photos shown below:
Men's Singles:
"A" division:
1st place - Ryan Fong (Rally Niagara) won his first men's singles "A" with the absence of 3 time champion Quan Le at this seasons event. Ryan was not to be denied with a convincing 21-14, 21-10 victory over a capable and strong opponent, Vasu Bandike (University of Buffalo).
"B" division:
1st place - Jack Jin (Reflex) won a hard fought battle against Zach Yaqub (Oberlin Conservatory) 21-17, 21-10. Both players were from out of the area from Brooklyn & Ohio and overcame some stiff competition at the "B" level from local favorites.
"C" division:
Last April we had two "seniors" carry the field. In this event it was just the opposite with two young players playing their hearts out. 1st place - Ankil Manukonda (University of Buffalo) won a super close 3 set match against fellow school player, Jobair Ahmed (Rally Niagara) 21-18, 16-21, 21-16.
"D" division:
1st place - Shlok Kesarwani (Rally Niagara) who is one of the top junior players of the club won a super close come from behind match vs. Zaid Amer (Rochester Institute of Technology) 16-21, 21-18, 21-19. Very exciting.
Women's Singles:
"A" division:
1st place - Sarika Gokhale (University of Rochester) became a defending 3 time champion in women's singles with a solid victory over a tough opponent in Emily Baskind (Capital District) who recently won two tournaments in Connecticut. The final score was 21-13, 21-6.
"B" division:
1st place - Amruta Bhat (University of Buffalo) won a grueling three set match against an experienced opponent in Shaw-Ree Chen (Rochester Badfans) 21-19, 17-21, 21-19. This perhaps could be argued as the match of the day. It was a see-saw battle with Amruta bringing home the gold medal in the event.
Men's Doubles:
"A" division:
1st place - Samson Chan (Pop-Up) & Ryan Fong (Rally Niagara) won against upcoming players, Dan Hacker & Eric Hong (Rally Niagara) 21-16, 21-13 in a very entertaining men's double finale.
"B" division:
1st place - Jack Jin & Aiden Liang (Reflex) 21-15, 21-10 held off a challenge from Agastya Chowdhary & Benjamin Nathabheem (Rochester Institute of Technology). For Jack it was his 2nd B division gold medal of the day.
C" division:
1st place - Zhouhong Chi & Dawei Wang (Syracuse University) represented Syracuse well with 22-20, 21-10 win over Zarni Htay & Kyaw Htet Hein (Rally Niagara).
D" division:
1st place - Chanchil Kesarwani & Shlok Kesarwani (Rally Niagara) were the only father / son team in the competition and played very well together defeating Abhishek Bhardwaj & Urwah Haq (Niagara Falls Badminton) 21-11, 21-10.
Women's Doubles:
"A" division:
1st place - Shaw-Ree & Sarika (Badfans, University of Rochester) powered their way to an impressive 21-12, 21-11 victory over Wendy T. & Shihka Solanki.
"B" division:
1st place - Tiannin Liu & Yujia Feng (Reflex)Â made a statement with a win against a tough Rochester team of Ruibo Li & Teddy Guo 21-10, 21-10.
Mixed Doubles:
"A" division:
1st place - Mat Callol & Sarika Gokhale (Badfans, University of Rochester) won against Sandeep Yalamanchili & Sonal Shukla by a score of 21-11, 21-11 despite having early leads in both games. The game play was intense though. Sarika earned her 3rd gold medal of the evening.
"B" division:
1st place - Agastya Chowdhary & Rayla Kuosaki (Rochester Institute of Technology, N/A) prevailed in a 3 set match 21-19, 16-21, 21-8 over Haolin Tang & Teddy Guo (University of Rochester). By the look in Agastya's eyes you can tell it had been a long day.
"C" division:
1st place - RunHao Zhong & Tianning Liu (Reflex) rounded out a full evening with a 21-9, 21-10 thrashing of Joe Zhang & Ruibo Li (University of Rochester) to secure the "C" XD championship
Gallery of Winners:
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