EDMONTON, Alta. - The NAIT Ooks badminton team will be kicking off their 2019-2020 season as they travel south to Olds College to compete in the first ACAC tournament of the year. 

Last season the NAIT Ooks had another successful season. The Ooks captured three gold and four silver medals at the Championships. They also got silver in the team event, which ended their eight-year streak of NAIT gold medals. The NAIT Ooks also had several players selected to the ACAC All-Conference team, Eyota Kwan, Connie Juang, Samantha Hsu, and Ryo Kuramochi were selected to the female all-conference team. Tyler Walsh and John Li were selected to the male team. 

At the CCAA National Championships, NAIT won two gold, one silver, and one bronze medal. The team of Ronuellle Mendina and Jeffrey Ko took home a gold medal in men's doubles as they defeated Bryce Mason and Benn Van Ryn, while Ryo Kuramochi and Bea Bernardo took home silver in women's doubles as they fell to Victoria Duong and Chloe Rowe. Eyota Kwan earned the title of champion in women's singles as she defeated Ann Hoang, while Samantha Hsu took home a bronze medal beating Rachel Wong.

"It was a strong finish with lots of our players not returning in 2020, they left it all out on the court, and it showed in the titles we brought home," said head coach Sinead Cheah.

The Ooks are hopeful of regaining success once again in the upcoming season as they return some key veteran's such Eyota Kwan and Roymond Kim, along with several new players. 

"Concordia and the other colleges in the conference have upped the ante in the competitive nature with new recruits. This season will prove to be the most competitive season in the last four years provincially," said Cheah. "We're hopeful that our players will rise to the challenge, and we can bring home a few gold medals from nationals again."