Racquet-wielding siblings Narayan and Priyanna Ramdhani remained consistent in their performances in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) tournaments, again bagging bronze medals over the weekend.
Priyanna and Narayan Ramdhani following their third ACAC competition
In the third 2019/2020 badminton tournament hosted by the ACAC — at the King’s University in Edmonton, Alberta Canada — this sensational Guyanese pair bagged three bronze medals: in the men’s doubles, women’s singles, and women’s doubles categories respectively.
Although the siblings did not get the chance to pair off because they were playing for opposing institutions, Narayan represented Guyana well in the men’s doubles, while younger sister Priyanna did likewise in the women’s singles and women’s doubles.
The pair had bagged the same amount of bronze medals in the second edition of this tournament, played earlier this year; and it signals their consistency as they continue to study, train and compete.
Based on their seeding, they are each maintaining their position among the top 3 in the series, and each is expected to return their best performance at the upcoming Provincial Championships, which are slated for the next two weeks in Edmonton.
At that competition, they will have the chance to make it to the Nationals. In 2019, Narayan impressed in copping the overall championship and placing third at Nationals.
In the men’s doubles, Narayan paired with Alex Stewart and gained a bye in the first round. In the quarterfinal round, the pair dispatched Rylan Head & Beau Stevenson of Olds 21-9, 21-15. However, in the semifinal, the pair went down to John Li and Smit Patel of Nait College 21-14, 21-12.
The pair had their redemption in the third-place playoff where they bested Olds’ Noah Jeffrey & Troy Morgan 21-18, 21-17 for the bronze.
In women’s doubles action, Priyanna and her partner Laynce Donaldson overcame Samantha Hsu & Ivy Ung of Nait College 21-17, 21-18 to take the bronze medal in the third-place playoff. The pair had, in the earlier rounds, defeated Kings’ Krisha Mejica & Cecilla Wolski in three scintillating sets 18-21, 23-21, 21-18, before losing to Concordia’s Johanna Rymes & Takeisha Wang 21-7, 21-10 in the semifinal.
Eighteen-year-old Priyanna fared well in the women’s singles, gaining a bye in the first round and vanquishing Nait’s Kaitlyn Gee 21-8, 21-4 in the quarterfinal.
She was bested by Nait’s Eyota Kwan 21-14, 21-7 in the semifinal, but was focused on redemption in the third-place playoff, and did well to defeat Cecilia Wolski of Kings College 21-17, 21-9 for the bronze.
