A day of high level badminton is tiring enough. You don’t near a trans-Atlantic flight and jet lag to make it harder.
Central’s Ben Newans and Stephanie Kendall started their Friday in Rome, Italy. Saturday, after seven matches, both were battling for a medal at the Moose Jaw Invitational Badminton tournament at Peacock.
Kendall won bronze in girls’ singles with a two game sweep of Jacey Danyluk of Regina O’Neill. Newans and his boys’ doubles partner Ryan Ma lost 21-11, 22-20 to Gravelbourg’s Mark Boire and Rejean Pinsonneault.
“I’m tired, but I’m feeling pretty good actually,” said Kendall. “I had zero expectations coming in and I got bronze — it was pretty good.”
The pair were part of an exchange trip that saw the students travel to France and Italy. Because of the trip it had been two weeks since they had picked up a racquet. They got home around midnight and were on the floor to play first thing the next morning.
Kendall finished 4-1 in her group and lost a semifinal to Hailey Coakley 21-15, 21-11. Coakley won the tournament and finished fourth in the province last season.
Ma and Newans finished 3-2 in their pool. They won a three-way tiebreak with Frontier and Swift Current for second place.
The Central pair lost 21-15 and 21-10 to Brandon Dowie and Odell Tan from O’Neill in the semifinal.
For more please see Monday’s Times-Herald.
