Written by the Alberta Collegiate Athletic Conference
Edmonton, February 10th – The Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference is pleased to announce that Imran Wadia from NAIT has been selected as the ACAC Men's Badminton Player of the Year for the 2nd year in a row.
The NAIT Ooks badminton team finished the regular season in 1st place in the ACAC. Imran, a 3rd year Wireless Systems Engineering student from Calgary, AB, was the best player in the conference. In the three regular season tournaments, Imran posted a perfect 9-0 singles record and 5-1 doubles record. He was selected as the ACAC and CCAA Athlete of the Week in November.
Imran played at Langara College in the PACWEST conference three years ago before joining the Ooks last season. In 2015, Imran qualified for the CCAA championships held at the University of King's College in Halifax, NS where he finished 5th in men's doubles. Last year saw Imran team up with fellow Ook Andy Ko to capture the ACAC men's doubles championships and earn Silver at the CCAA National badminton championships.
NAIT Ooks Badminton head coach Sinead Cheah had the following to say about her student-athlete. "Over the last year Imran has shown tremendous growth in both his badminton game and place on the team. He has taken on a deserving leadership role next to team captain Nicholas Roque and has been a role model to his teammates, male and female alike. An exceptional student athlete Imran has been a pleasure to coach."
Imran and the NAIT Ooks badminton team will play Saturday in the ACAC team championship semi-final against the Olds College Broncos. The championships are hosted at King's University College this weekend with the team event Saturday and the individual events championships being held Sunday. The top two finishers in each of the 5 events will move on to the CCAA National Championships held March 1-3 at Concordia University of Edmonton.
