Badminton wins another title

Every college seems to have a team that year in and year out dominates its competition in the shadows, its members competing day in and day out without fan recognition or support. Here at Penn, that unknown team may just be the club badminton team. This past Sunday at the Northeast Collegiate Badminton Championship at nearby Swarthmore College, Penn's squad successfully defended its team title, winning the championship for the third consecutive year. "I'm very pleased by our results at regionals," Penn junior and team president Ahmad Zadli said. "We did real well and we're retaining the same team for next year." With 32 college teams coming from as far away as New England and Virginia, this is always one of the largest competitions in the country. Penn seemed to be at a disadvantage, entering the meet as a club team with no coach being forced to face varsity opponents. But the Penn contingent advanced to the finals of eight of the 10 different singles, doubles and mixed doubles brackets, winning three. "Our performance was excellent --Ewe showed strength in all areas," senior and former team president Alekh Dalal said. "The Northeast region has a lot of good teams, and for Penn to be one of the best ones in that region, means that we're at least very, very good, if not to say that we're one of the top teams." Dalal combined with sophomore Sanjeev Mohan to take the men's A doubles title. The senior also reached the finals in men's A singles as the No. 2 seed. Senior Olivia Koentjoro duplicated Dalal's two-class dominance, advancing to the finals of women's A singles as the No. 4 seed and combining with classmate Karen Yiu, a former Daily Pennsylvanian photo editor, to reach the women's B doubles finals. In addition, Penn's Alexandria Wu and Ricky Liswin also won their classes, while Adrian Chiu and Ting Fair Ng advanced to the finals of their event. As it showed on the court this past Sunday, the badminton team, like many club sports here at Penn, has a lot of talent and a lot of desire. And at the same time, like many club sports here at Penn, it is not afforded much money or space to work with. During the school year, there is only room for 12 players to practice when the team meets twice a week in Weightman Gym and due to travel and budgetary constraints, this year's squad only took part in one competition before this weekend. But the continued success of the Penn contingent comes as little surprise to its members. In fact, several are international students who have been playing badminton -- the most popular sport in their home countries -- since before they were 10 years old. "The thing is, in America, badminton is viewed as something that you play in your backyard," said Dalal, who competed on badminton circuits in his native Belgium before coming to Penn. "It's hard for me to think of the sport as something that people play in their backyard -- much the way that people here think [it is hard to think of] as being a competitive sport." Despite not playing to much, if any, student recognition, and despite not being a member of any official conference, the badminton team has a history of strong finishes. At the New England Collegiate Championships last April, Penn handily defeated host Harvard and 11 other schools to take the team championship. Impressed? Maybe you should be. A close-knit group, the badminton team epitomizes what a club sport is meant to be -- combining strong collegiate-level players with beginners, success with learning and, most importantly, those who love to play badminton with an outlet for their talent.