Guyana’s top-ranked badminton player Narayan Ramdhani showed his worth in his first tournament in Edmonton Alberta Canada when representing The Kings University.
Ramdhani has been attending college and training in Canada with Shuttlesport Badminton Academy for the past two years. Over the weekend, the young man gave a glimpse of his true potential, showing that his hard work over the past two years is paying off.
Ramdhani walked away from the tournament with a silver in the Men’s doubles event and a bronze in the Mixed Doubles event, after making it up to the semi-final stage. The Guyanese player found himself pitted against some of the best players in Alberta on the familiar Kings University Badminton Courts.
Taken out of a draw of 64, Ramdhani and his open men’s doubles partner Joel Simrose were seeded Number 2, and as a result were given a bye in the first round of the competition.
However, in the second round, the duo faced off with Jacky Chung & Stewart Tieu, and were ready for battle. They won by a lengthy margin 21-10, 21-16. In the third round of play, Ramdhani and Simrose found themselves playing against Anshuma Sharma and Rohan Sharma in an extremely close encounter, but they prevailed 21-18, 21-18.
This win plunged the duo into the quarterfinal, where they met with Sony Augustine and Jiju Kiliyankand. Although the first set was close, 21-19, the pair fought hard to win the second convincingly 21-10. The semifinal wasn’t much of a challenge for the Guyanese and his partner, as they defeated Kartil Gohil and Harpeet Singh 21-11, 21-16.
However, the finals of the men’s doubles was the stage that truly posed a challenge to the pair. There they fought hard, but had to settle for second place as they lost to the number 1 seeded pair of Kevin Chow and Alex Fung 21-17, 21-18
The Guyanese badminton player then ventured into the open mixed doubles competition. When paired with Angelica Alberto, the duo were seeded Number 2 in the draw of 32, and as such were given a bye in the first round of play.
Upon entering the second round, the pair was required to face off with Se Jun Sunwoo and Nicole Ramos in an encounter which they won 21-12, 21-19. As such, they advanced to the quarterfinal, and eventually overcame their opponents Wenlong Huang and Zixin Jiao in two comfortable sets.
The semi-final was a challenge for the two as the Number three-seeded pair of Kevin Chow & Tina Wasilik put up a fight to cop the finals spot. Their opponents got the better of Ramdhani and Alberto in a 21-12, 21-15 contest. However, the Guyanese player and his partner ended in third position.
