Strukhlyak, Gouldie win JV badminton titles

Sophia Strukhlyak had one question after four unbeaten hours of badminton on Tuesday.

“Can I go home now?” she asked coach Kelly DeRoo, after dominating the JV girls singles city championship field.

The Vincent Massey sophomore ran the table without dropping a game, defeating Chesta Patel 2-0 in the final. The event started at 4 p.m. and ended well after 8 o’clock.

“It’s really tough, honestly, I was sweating and wanted to cry a bit but I toughed it out,” Strukhlyak said with a laugh.

“It was amazing. It was really fun. I had a great time playing with other people and it was good practice for provincials.”

Strukhlyak has been playing badminton since junior high, and has been a Ukrainian dancer much longer. She said there are a few translatable skills.

“It’s a lot of footwork you have to remember,” she said. “Going backwards, shuffling, in dance we always do that for warmups, and that helps me a lot.”

She knows the provincial championship, which runs May 1-3 in Winnipeg, will be a much tougher test. She earned a spot as the runner-up at cities last year but was eliminated early.

While she sported a 7-0 record on Tuesday, most of her matches were close, with a handful of games decided by just two points.

That taught Strukhlyak a few things to work on over the next week.

“They kept dropping the birdie on me and I had to run forward, then they’d hit it (deep) and I’d have to run backwards and get it. It was really tough but I did get through it,” she said.

“I’m going to go to more practices than I have now and I’m going to practise with a lot more people and try new tactics, like hitting it to the back where they can’t hit it.”

GOULDIE GOLDEN

Massey freshman Oren Gouldie also ran the table, topping Megh Patel of Crocus 2-0 for first place.

The country’s top racquetball player in his age group is off to his first high school provincials. While he’s used to travelling for his main sport, he’s extra excited for this one.

“It feels good, first provincials so it’s always exciting going with friends,” Gouldie said.

Even though he’s still under five-foot, Gouldie found ways to pick his opponents apart. He took down a pair of six-footers in the semifinals and final.

“Height definitely is a lot because you can hit it more down and have a longer reach. It’s tough playing those people,” Gouldie said.

“You just gotta move them around the court, try to punish their weaknesses. Hitting it right at them usually helps a lot.”

DOUBLES WINNERS CROWNED

Kitushi Patel and Smiriti Pal claimed the girls’ doubles title, while Luke Godfrey and Patrick Hall won the boys’ doubles event.

Massey’s Landon Lesin and Johanna de Leon took the top spot in mixed doubles.

Late Monday, Neelin’s Dana Linov and Leonides McDaniel won the mixed doubles title.

Massey’s Michael Bartolome and Hans Barluado won boys’ doubles, with Khrystyana Khomenko and Zilei Li winning girls’ doubles.

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com