Gravenhurst Falcons Badminton Club

There were several very strong positives for the Falcons who played at this tournament.  Perhaps the least expected was the victory by Cameron Bird and Om Patel over their arch nemesis, the team of Demetrios Margou and Ethan Zhang, in a very exciting and hard fought 3-game match.  This is the first time that Cameron and Om have managed to defeat this team so everyone was very proud and happy.

Another strong positive was the play of Morgan Gillan and Thomas Battistini in BDU15.  They finished second losing to only one team.  It wasn’t just their strong placement – it was how well they played individually and as a team especially considering that 2 weeks ago they were really struggling.

Another somewhat unexpected positive was the strong play by Shrey Patel in U19 Singles.  He played one of his best matches ever in defeating Joshua Um of Newmarket in the semifinals in a 3 game match.  He showed great poise and determination as well as a very intelligent attack.

The final in BSU19 was all Falcons as Dhir Patel joined Shrey after having defeated the number one seed Jake Pridham from Machi.  This was a much anticipated and exciting match as Dhir had defeated Jake in their last meeting but with considerable difficulty.  This time Dhir was prepared and controlled the match from beginning to end and won in two decisive games with a lot of hard work and some amazing shots.  Dhir managed to defeat an exhausted Shrey in 2 games to win BSU19.

The second GBDBA Junior Tournament was held in Alliston on Saturday, Dec. 10.
This was a Doubles tournament followed by exhibition Singles games.

Cameron Bird and Om Patel finished 2nd in BU13. They won a very close 2 game match over Bracebridge but came up short against their nemesis from Machi.

Claire Lim and Cattibre LePage finished as B Champions in GU15. This was Cattibre’s first tournament and Claire’s second for their rookie season on the circuit and must consider the outcome very successful.

Morgan Gillan won BU15 with teammate Elite Lu of Machi.  The boys were quite equal in their abilities and style of play always keeping their opponents under pressure forcing the weak returns that led to their victories.

Shrey Patel partnered with Jimmy Yao of Bracebridge and they were successful in winning the BU17 despite some very challenging matches from Machi teams. Shrey’s size and power combined with Jimmy’s seeing-eye drop shots made a potent offence.

Dhir and Shrey competed at the (ranked) Junior B tournament hosted by GBDBA at Machi Training Center in Aurora. Shrey met the eventual runner up in his first match and struggled well but moved on to the consolation round. As consolation was one game to 21 it was important to get off to a good start. Shrey made good shots but were just inches out, gave up a large lead and eventually bowed out of competition.

Dhir played hard and intelligently on his way to winning BSU15. He faced several easy opponents, some that looked tough but proved to wilt with little struggle and several that pushed Dhir to endure long rallies and make amazing shots under extreme pressure. His final match was against Jake Pridham of Machi. Jake is a ‘singles only’ player and had won a previous Junior B event. He had a very hard smash and excellent serve that caused Dhir to lose his first game. Once adjusted to Jake’s style Dhir gradually took control of the match and after a tough second game, was able to cruise relatively easily to the win in the third game.

In Doubles Dhir and Shrey won a tough first match in 3 games and then faced a very strong team from KCBC (the eventual winners) in their second match. The second game of this match was as exciting and well played match as you will see at this level with lots of long rallies and great defensive play.

Front: Cameron Bird, Om Patel. Middle: Morgan Gillan. Back: Shrey Patel, Dhir Patel

On the weekend of Dec. 3/4 Falcons participated in another Junior B tournament (unranked) in Whitby. This tournament saw the initiation of 2 future stars on the Junior B Circuit.  Cameron Bird and Om Patel both played U13 BS and BD.  As they were both born in 2008 and U13s are born in 2005 or 2006 they were playing against older and more experienced players. Despite this they both managed to win matches and lost some very close matches.  Om came home with a trophy as B Finalist.

In Doubles they also ended up as B Finalists playing many exciting, hard fought matches.  The boys came away with an taste of what provincial competition is like and a realization that they fit in at that level.

Dhir and Shrey played U17 Singles and Doubles.  Shrey won his first match and then faced the number one seed.  He played well and but moved into B division where he faced the number 2 seed in his first match.  A tough draw for Shrey.

Dhir’s second match after an initial victory was against the number 2 seed who he managed to defeat in 3 games with excellent 4-corner attack that basically wore his opponent out.  He then faced the eventual champion and played 2 very strategic, hard fought games but the net play of his opponent proved to be too exact for Dhir.  Finishing in the semis in U17 when you’re U15 and losing only to the champion must be considered a very successful tournament.

In Doubles Dhir and Shrey ended up B Champions in a field that had four other strong teams.

Morgan Gillan had an extremely successful rookie tournament on the B Circuit.  In BSU15 he won is first 2 matches and lost in the semifinals.  In BDU15 Morgan and his partner Ian MacDonald from Lee’s ended up A Finalist losing a tight 3 game contest in the finals.

This Saturday is the second GBDBA tournament – Doubles in Alliston.