Badminton leaves OCAA Championships with five gold medals

KING CITY - The OCAA crowned their 2026 badminton champions, highlighted by successful defence in men's singles, along with individuals who won gold with new partners.

Humber's Tim Lock defended his crown from last season without dropping a set. After going 6-0 during the round robin, Lock defeated Seneca's Maulik Jain in the semi-final and Fanshawe's Arpi Sinha in the final to claim is third OCAA medal. Fanshawe's Ram Ng captured the bronze medal over Jain in a thrilling three-set match.

On the women's side of singles, Rachel Chan of Humber proved to be the class of not just the women's division, but possibly the entire championship. Chan defeated Hawks teammate Elena Meng in the semi-final before cruising past Seneca's Chincco Lai in straight sets. Chan never allowed an opponent to reach double digits in a single set, including a 21-1, 21-2 finals win over Lai.

Sherry Wu and Shruti Joshi captured the women's doubles division, defeating Seneca's Amy Xing and Vanness Lam. It was a gold medal for the second straight year for Wu who previously captured the mixed doubles championship in 2025. Xing and Lam upgraded from a bronze medal in 2025 after defeating Fanshawe's Tilu Vaidya and Nicole Kim in the semi-final. Fanshawe captured the bronze medal.

OCAA Men's Player of the Year Bosco Lai and men's doubles partner Jordan Lau defeated Fanshawe's Thao Le and Ty Nguyen to complete an undefeated championship. Lau repeats as men's doubles champion having previously won with Anthony Tso. Conestoga's Maxwell Barnes and Ryan Tu outlasted Humber's Tyler Vicente-Pereira and Aldrin John Miranda in the bronze medal match.

In mixed doubles, Catherine Choi and Jack Ronahan captured the Hawks' hat trick of gold medals, defeating Seneca's Alyssa Iran and Tso. Fanshawe's duo of Xin Niu and Suhail Mohammad prevailed in the bronze medal match.

The Humber Hawks won the women's team championship, while the Fanshawe Falcons captured the men's team championship.

At the conclusion of the tournament, head coach Chloe Rowe was presented her second Coach of the Year award in four seasons, while Shruti Joshi was given her Player of the Year award.

The winners are now heading to St. John, New Brunswick, to compete in the 2026 CCAA National Championships, hosted by UNBSJ beginning March 5.