By Joey Gelman
For the second-straight year, Walter Payton captured the Chicago Public League Girls Varsity Badminton Team Championship. The Grizzlies have secured the title every year since the inception of Badminton in the Chicago Public League in 2018.
Payton finished the tournament with a score of 16.5, followed by Northside College Prep (7.5), Whitney Young (7) and Roosevelt/ Von Steuben Co-Op (6.5).
“It feels great, the girls put in a lot of work… so the hard work pays off… it’s definitely because of their effort,” said Payton Head Coach Curtis Nunnery.
“Being aggressive, putting yourself in a good position, always moving your feet, those are things in the game that we talked about and as a team I think we did a good job of coming together, supporting each other and working hard in practice to make each other better.”
Unlike last year’s tournament, this year’s postseason was spread across a three-day span and featured an expanded field of athletes from 16 schools, culminating in an exciting championship environment on Saturday at Whitney Young High School.
Within the tournament, Payton soared to the top in both doubles and singles play, assisting in their effort to win the team title.
The Doubles Championship featured a Payton vs. Payton matchup, as Margarita (Maggie) Tsyganova and Ashley Strauss competed against Cindy Ho and Hannah Ding. Tsyganova and Strauss won the doubles championship against their fellow teammates, and Tsyganova, a senior captain, reflected on their performance.
“I love badminton, badminton is my favorite sport,” Tsyganova said. “ I think it’s just a testament to our hard work and practice every day. I think we have a lot of fun and maybe that helps a little bit… and just the community of girls that all play badminton, I think it’s just really exciting for our school. I know Ashley and I really like Badminton, so when we have fun and have a positive attitude in our matches, it helps us perform a little better.”
Nunnery said that the key to the doubles championship was their in game adjustments.
“They did a good job of making adjustments in game… that’s something very tough for athletes to do even with coaching… it’s hard to make adjustments on the fly, so they did a great job.”
In the Singles Bracket, Payton junior Hailan Yu captured her second straight singles title, defeating Whitney Young’s Sunshine Pang in a hard fought match.
“It’s good because it’s the second time,” “Yu said. “[Goal today] was just trying to be consistent, and not give up.”
Nunnery was proud of Yu and knows her commitment to the sport is what helped her achieve this milestone.
“She trains really hard… trains with her dad all the time,” Nunnery said. “A big reason for her success is the hours she puts into this… she’s very competitive.”
As the Grizzlies turn their attention to the IHSA state playoffs, they will look to take their previous experience with them to help them advance further towards the ultimate goal of a state title.
“At this point, we’ve been here before, a lot of these girls have seen this before,” Nunnery said. “We actually had the opportunity to play some suburban schools during the season this year, something we didn’t do last year, so I think we’re a little better prepared going into this tournament.”
The IHSA Sectionals begin this week with the State Finals taking place May 12-13 at DeKalb High School.
