Club Badminton at San Jose State won thirty-six of their sixty-one matches this past weekend at the 2017 Sun God Badminton Open. It was only Lydia Li who was able to secure the ultimate goal of first place in D, Women's Doubles. Lydia was paired with an athlete from University of California San Diego.
The Sun God Badminton Tournament was hosted by UCSD. The event spanned over twelve courts and filled two gymnasiums and took place on May 27-28. Entries in the tournament are not limited to Colleges and Universities, however most participants are current students from various colleges across the state of California. The Sun God Open offers competition in five different categories -- men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles. There are five different levels or flights participants may enter to compete, with funky being the highest and D being the lowest.
The team traveled the 460 miles to San Diego on Friday, May 26. The nine members that made the trip were Derrick Long, Lydia Li, Michael Buasan, Randy Ouyang, Curtis Cullin, Aliza Truong, Daneil Wong, Gloria Ku, and Joshua Liang.
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The matches started early Saturday morning around 8 a.m. The Spartans saw a lot of success early and took few losses until late in the afternoon and deep into their brackets. The matches wrapped up well into the night with the Spartans finishing the day with 21 wins to their 14 losses.
Sunday's schedule was similar to Saturday, with matches beginning at 8 a.m. The strength of competition quickly increased by 11 a.m. with several quarter final matches. By that point, most of the Spartans had played their final matches with only Michael Buasan and Lydia Li advancing to semifinals in their respective flights. Lee was the only Spartan to win first place in her respective category.
Club Badminton has concluded competition for the 2016-17 academic season. Â The team enjoyed the tournament and are expected to compete again next year.
The Club took advantage of the holiday weekend by taking a trip to Universal Studios Monday, May 29.
