Cookson, Cornwall compete well at Junior WOSSAA badminton meet
LONDON - The DCVI Salukis doubles pairing of Nate Cookson and Adam Cornwall
played extremely well against some top competitors here last Tuesday, April
29 at the Junior WOSSAA badminton championships.
The pair, having finished fourth the previous week at the Huron-Perth
championships, started the day off against the top team in their division,
AB Lucas from London.
After a slow start and some nerves getting the better of them in the opening
game, the St. Marys duo settled down and played a much more focused and
intense game the second time up, but it wasn’t enough to beat the No. 1
seeds.
Now on the ‘B’ side, Cookson-Cornwall had to win in order to stay alive.
Their next match pitted them against St. Joe’s No. 1 team. The combination
of Nate’s power game and Adam’s finesse allowed the pair to take control of
the match.
Their combination game proved to be too much for their opponents, who not
only lost their cool on the court, but also the match to DCVI.
Advance to third round
Now into their third round of play, Cornwall and Cookson came up against St.
Thomas Aquinas (S.T.A.). Again they got off to a shaky start, rushing their
shots, or trying too hard to get it to the sidelines—resulting in some
costly giveaways.
However, after dropping the opening game, they re-grouped and took it to
S.T.A. in the second game, winning easily and with confidence.
The deciding game of the match was well played by both teams. It featured
excellent serving, fast and furious exchanges, smashes, unbelievable returns
and subtle net play.
Unfortunately for Nate and Adam, they were just four points short, losing
21-17. And with that loss, they were ousted from the competition.
After the match, the Saluki pair discovered that S.T.A. was the No. 2 seed
in their division, and they had come extremely close to defeating them. So
in the end, with some bad luck in the draw, it took the best two teams at
the championships to beat them, and even then, it was close.
Congratulations to Nate and Adam and the rest of the DCVI Junior team on a
great badminton season.