Story and Photo by Marcus Tolero
The Women’s Badminton team will send its top doubles team to compete for a state title at this weekend’s California Community College State Championships at Mission College.
The doubles team of sophomores Bin Cheng and Rainie Dang will look to bring home CCSF’s first state doubles title since 2012
Cheng and Deng are coming off an impressive performance at last week’s Coast Conference Championships held at Fresno City College. The duo qualified for the state championships after defeating Fresno’s doubles team with a score of 21-16.
With momentum on their side, Head Coach Monique Calvello said that her number one doubles team should make some noise at the state championships regardless of their opponent.
“Bin and Rainie should do well. If they play a Coast Conference team, then there will be a familiarity there. But if they’re seeded against a Southern California, then there won’t be that familiarity,” Calvello said. “It’s exciting. Everyone at this level is the best of the best.”
Deng, Calvello’s number two individual player, will also compete for an individual state title. At last week’s conference championships, Deng played in six matches and won five of the six including a win over Fresno’s number five player. Her performance last week earned her the number six seeding in the individual state championships.
“She played to a level that I have never seen her play, and she carried the energy of the team quite well,” Calvello said. “Everybody was rooting and cheering for her. She carried our team into a much higher bracket of play, which is the state tournament.”
In preparation for the state championships, Calvello has worked with Bin and Rainie on rotations, coverages, and communication during matches. She said that if they can perfect these aspects of the game then they should be in contention for a title.
“They’ve been putting in a lot of work leading up to the championship. I’m proud of them for that. It will really fall on Bin’s and Rainie’s will to win,” Calvello said.
The CCCAA State Championships will be held at Mission College (May 11-12).