By Larry Moko
A badminton 'professional' won the boys' singles division of the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic Athletic Association high school badminton championships Wednesday.
Alan Varghese of the St. John Henry Newman Cardinals isn't exactly on the sport's pro tour, but the Grade 11 student still has a part-time money-making job on the court.
"He's coaching badminton to young kids at the club he once played at," Newman coach Tom Campanella said.
It was the opening round of the two-day senior championships at Cathedral High School. Girls' doubles and mixed doubles also saw action.
The tournament is scheduled to conclude on April 10 with boys' doubles and girls' singles matches. The top two placings in each division advance to the Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference tournament.
Varghese, a native of India, battled through a foot injury to defeat Cathedral's Tommy Nguyen, 21-12, 21-14, in the final.
"Not so good," Varghese said of his performance. "It's been a while since I've played."
"I used to practise five days a week. I went to three different places for it, clubs in Burlington, London and near Mississauga."
Campanella said Varghese has a fantastic clear shot and a solid understanding of strategy.
"I let him play his game," the Newman coach said. "There's not a lot I could add. His foot was hurting, so it was difficult to push off. He couldn't move as well as he normally does."
Neither Varghese nor Campanella is sure whether GHAC rules will consider him a club or non-club player (one of each advances to OFSAA).
"I quit two years ago from Lions in Burlington," the former Ontario-ranked U19 player said.
In girls' doubles action, it was a Newman vs. Newman final. Ella Maiorano and Mattea Cicerone finished first with a victory over Madison Edmunds and Mikayla Kent.
The Maiorano/Cicerone duo has a history of coming close but never previously winning city finals.
"We came second in Grade 9 and third all the other years," Grade 12 student Cicerone said. "It has been really close against other girls and we've always wanted to win. We've never faced these two from our school before. They're in Grade 11."
Said Maiorano: "We won every single match today except when we got to the final. They beat us the first time (double elimination). Then we came back and won the championship. I'm not sure what to expect at GHAC but we're ready to put up a fight."
The mixed doubles category saw an all-Cathedral Gaels final with Jiana Lemmen and Christian Maligalig downing Vanessa Merlos and Danny Do.
"It could have gone either way," Cathedral coach Jay Stokl said of the result. "Our mixed doubles teams this year were very talented. We had such a good pool of players."
Stokl said it's a feel-good story for Lemmen and Maligalig. "Christian and Jiana basically worked their way up from our practice squad and won gold."
Third-place finishers were: Sean Aton, Cathedral, boys' singles; Beatrice Clausen and Maria Atanasoaei, Cathedral, girls' doubles; Grace MacDonald and Kyle Lukezic, Newman, mixed doubles.
Photos by R.F. (Bob) Butrym, RFB Sport Photography
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