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Women's Badminton State Championship Preview
May 06, 2009
The California Community College Athletic Association 2009 Women's Badminton Championship begins on Thursday and will run through Saturday at Irvine Valley College.
The state team championships will take place on Thursday at 3 p.m. in Hart Gymnasium.
Irvine Valley College, the champion from the Orange Empire Conference, takes on City College of San Francisco, the champion from the Coast Conference, for the title.
Irvine Valley has an overeall record of 9-0. San Francisco enters with a record of 8-0.
San Francisco is led by Coast Conference singles champion Jing Liang. The Rams actually took the top three spots in their conference finals. Liang beat teammate Yan Li in the final. And Wendy Zhu finished third.
Liang and Li also captured the conference doubles title, beating teammates Zhu and Rufina Wu.
The Lasers are back in the state final for the first time since 2005. They won four state championships in a row from 2002 to 2005.
"It is nice to once again be be involved in the state championship," IVC Coach Martin McGrogan said. "We are really looking forward to it. And it is a bonus to be playing in it and hosting it. San Francisco is a very talented team and we are expecting a close contest."
Irvine Valley is led by Eva Lee, who is one of the top badminton players in the nation.
Lee won state individual state singles and doubles titles for the Lasers in 2006. She went on to capture Pan Am gold medals in singles, doubles and mixed doubles (2007) and competed for the United States in the Beijing Olympics last summer before returning to compete for IVC this season.
The Lasers also have another former state champion on their roster. Shannon Hsu won state singles and doubles titles for Irvine Valley in 2007.
Another top player for Irvine Valley is freshman Vimla Phongasavithas, who won the Orange Empire conference singles and doubles titles this year. Phongasavithas defeated Hsu in a close final, 21-19, 21-16, last week.
Phongasavithas teamed with Hsu to win the doubles title.
Phongasavithas finished eighth earlier this year at the USA Team Trials. IVC's Lee was second in the event, finishing second behind another former Irvine Valley star, Lili Zhou.
Also making up the strong 2009 Irvine Valley team are Anoma Phongasavithas, Ludie Duco, Stephanie Le, Helen Tang, Rose Gong, Shelly Stephan and Ayako Isshi.
The state individual singles and doubles championships will take place on Friday and Saturday. IVC's Vimla Phongasavithas is the top seed in the singles event. San Francisco's Liang is seeded second.
In doubles, Phongasavithas and Hsu are seeded first and Liang and Li are seeded second.
Opening rounds of the singles and doubles will be from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday with the semifinal and final rounds happening on Saturday from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m.
SCHEDULES
State Team Championships
Thursday, May 7 @ 3:00pm
State Singles and Doubles Championships
Friday May 8, 12:00pm-5:00pm
Match # Time Round
# 1 - 6 12:00 p.m. 1st round Singles
# 7 - 12 12:20 p.m. 1st round and 2nd round Singles
# 13 - 16 12:40 p.m. 2nd round Singles
# 17 - 18 1:00 p.m. 1st round Doubles
# 19 - 24 1:20 p.m. 2nd round Doubles
# 25 - 26 1:40 p.m. 2nd round Doubles
# 27 - 30 2:00 p.m. 1st round Cons Singles
# 31 - 34 2:20 p.m. 1st round Cons Singles
# 35 - 36 2:40 p.m. 1st round Cons Doubles
# 37 - 40 3:00 p.m. Q.F. Singles
# 41 - 44 3:20 p.m. Cons. Q.F. Singles
# 45 - 48 3:40 p.m. Q.F. Doubles
# 49 - 52 4:00 p.m. Cons. Q.F. Doubles
State Singles and Doubles Championships
Saturday May 9, 12:00pm-2:00pm
Match # Time Round
# 53 - 55 12:00 p.m. Singles Semis, Cons. Singles Semis
# 57 - 60 12:30 p.m. Doubles Semis, Cons. Doubles Semis
# 61 - 62 1:00 p.m. Singles Finals, Cons. Singles Finals
# 63 – 64 1:30 p.m. Doubles Finals, Cons. Doubles Finals
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