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USA Badminton Team Begins Team Competition at the 2007 Pan American Badminton Championships Tomorrow in Calgary, Alberta, Canada
By USOC.Staff // U.S. Olympic Committee // May 18, 2007
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The team competition at the 2007 Pan American Badminton Championships is set to begin tomorrow, Friday, May 18 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Eight athletes (four men and four women) will represent the United States in the team competition. The eight athletes will compete in the five event categories: men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles over the next two days.
With the 2008 Olympic Qualifying season just underway (officially began on May 1, 2007); the 2007 Pan American Badminton Championships is the first opportunity for USA Badminton athletes to earn coveted Olympic Qualification points. For the sport of badminton, qualification into the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China is based solely on the athlete’s ranking in the Badminton World Federation on April 30, 2008. The qualification season runs from May 1, 2007 through April 30, 2008.
Members of the USA Badminton Team competing in the team competition at the 2007 Pan American Badminton Championships include 2005 World Champion Howard Bach (San Francisco, Calif./Orange, Calif.), Khan “Bob” Malaythong (Rockville, Md./Orange, Calif.), Eva Lee (Orange, Calif.), Mesinee “May” Mangkalakiri (Garden Grove, Calif.), Eric Go (Palo Alto, Calif./Orange, Calif.), Nicholas Jinadasa (Long Beach, Calif.), Jennifer Coleman (Madison, Wis./Newport Beach, Calif.) and Lauren Todt (Danville, Calif.). The USA Badminton Team is coached by Cai Zi Min (Orange, Calif.).
Individual competition in the 2007 Pan American Badminton Championships got underway on Tuesday, May 15 with finals scheduled to take place tonight, May 17. Advancing to tonight’s finals in the individual competition for the U.S. were: Bach and Malaythong in men’s doubles, Bach and Lee in mixed doubles and Lee and Mangkalakiri in women’s doubles.
Bach and Malaythong will face Canada’s Mike Beres and William Milroy in the men’s doubles final, while Bach and Lee will take on Beres and Valerie Loker of Canada in the finals of mixed doubles. In the women’s doubles finals, Lee and Mangkalakiri will face Canada’s Fiona McKee and Charmaine Reid.
For the complete bracket and results from the 2007 Pan American Badminton Championships, please visit cl.exct.net or cl.exct.net.
For more information, please contact Cecil Bleiker, United States Olympic Committee NGB Services Manager at 719-866-4608.
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