At the highest of levels, the North Bay badminton players really came to play.

Nipissing District Athletics (NDA) representatives captured all five of the senior divisions of competition at the 2023 NOSSA Badminton Championships last week, adding a pair of gold medal victories in the younger age brackets as well.

It was something of a tough year for the local contingent as SDSSAA will be sending just one athlete to the 2023 OFSAA Championships (May 11th to 13th in Port Hope) in the form of Mai Hisaki from St Benedict Catholic Secondary School.

An international student from Japan studying in Canada, Hisaki actually finished third in senior girls singles play behind both Oliva Popp from Algonquin and Gillian Obradovich from Lockerby, but is considered non-club trained participant, with each of the NOSSA regions mandated to send at least one pure high-school entry to OFSAA in each of the senior divisions.

(OFSAA badminton is only open to senior participants - furthest level for novices and juniors is NOSSA)

Junior champions from Sudbury included Lillian Li from Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School (Junior Girls Singles) and Theo Lefebvre/Gabrielle Luoma from Collège Notre-Dame (Junior Mixed Doubles) while locals had the most luck in novice play as Nyah Robinson (St Charles College - Novice Girls Singles), Dax Rolston/Thomas Berardelli (Lockerby Composite - Novice Boys Doubles) and Audrey Pitre/Ashley Rancourt (Rivières des Francais - Novice Girls Doubles) all emerged victorious.

Following is a breakdown of the top five in each of the 15 categories that were contested in North Bay:

Senior Division
Boys Singles
1st - Zakari Dufresne-Nappert (SJSH)
2nd - Matteo Rocca (LOE)
3rd - Daniel Guzzo (STM)
4th - Caleb Lalonde (CHMP)
5th - Ben Irvine-Aumond (WF)
5th - Dylan Garson (KOR)

Girls Singles
1st - Olivia Popp (ALG)
2nd - Gillian Obradovich (LCS)
3rd - Mai Hisaki (STB)
4th - Annie Balfe (MSS)
5th - Ashley Noble (STM)
5th - Elizabeth Gavey (STM)

Boys Doubles
1st - Eigen Conejos/Ryan O'Donnell (CSS)
2nd - Jeffrey Taylor/Colin Evans (WF)
3rd - T.J. Grenne/Davin Deschenes (MSS)
4th - Alex Chartier/Tanner Rollins (STC)
5th - Micah Byman/Zac Windle (CASS)
5th - Dominic Gionet/Sebastien Smith (CND)

Girls Doubles
1st - Victoria Gadomski/Kaitlyn Bertrand (CSS)
2nd - Renée Charbonneau/Mariyah Kazi (SJSH)
3rd - Delaney Elliott/Grace Elliott (KOR)
4th - Ashley Touchette/Chloee Beaulieu (RDF)
5th - Kaitlyn Parker/Elisa Tallon (CASS)
5th - Alecia Atwell/Cassie Grenier (STM)

Mixed Doubles
1st - David Rojas Reid/Chloe Popp (SJSH)
2nd - Declan Dupuis/Emma Adams (FJM)
3rd - Blake Rosener/Farrah Farstad (STC)
4th - Mackenzie Green/Eli Lock (MSS)
5th - Darshan Kasundra/Chelsea Kennedy (KOR)
5th - Owen Pawluk/Adasyn Radey (LAS)

Junior Division
Boys Singles
1st - Candon Onei (STM)
2nd - Jacob Fry (ALG)
3rd - Ashton Morrel (ESP)
4th - Ethan Agawa (STM)
5th - Benjamin Ostojik (CSS)
5th - Will Mackey (LAS)

Girls Singles
1st - Lillian Li (LOE)
2nd - Jihae Choi (CSS)
3rd - Niyati Patel (KOR)
4th - Bailey Raymond (CND)
5th - Aima Fournier (FC)
5th - Aspen Debassige (MSS)

Boys Doubles
1st - Antony Niro/Vedant Ughadgapap (STM)
2nd - Matti Jouppi/Jonah Gibson (LOE)
3rd - Jake Gagan/Donny MacEwan (JN)
4th - Greyden McFarlane/Willem O'Connor (WF)
5th - Zachary Neron/Brayden Bertrand (SC)
5th - Nathan Weber/Harrison Bond (SJSH)

Girls Doubles
1st - Gabrielle Dufresne-Nappert/Victoria Charbonneau (ALG)
2nd - Emily Bateman/Dhvani Lakdawala (KOR)
3rd - Reanna Tremblay/Danyka Tremblay (ESMC)
4th - Morgan Irwin/Cristina Iafrate (SJSH)
5th - Sophie Boucher/Sophie Begic (CND)
5th - Marie-Laure Daoust/Enza Fabris (VFJ)

Mixed Doubles
1st - Gabrielle Luoma/Theo Lefebvre (CND)
2nd - Taryn Rollins/Cole Rosener (STC)
3rd - Claire Gould/Divine Love (SH)
4th - Emily Tremblay/Rowyn St-Louis (FC)
5th - Joudy Nouth/Ben Nixon-Holmes (KOR)
5th - Annie Lin/Tyson Sivret (FJM)

Novice Division
Boys Singles
1st - Dylan Wootton (SH)
2nd - Noah Fortin (RDF)
3rd - Ethan Leblanc (ESP)
4th - Nathan Hussel (SJSH)
5th - Gabe Stewart (CASS)
5th - Lukas Morin (CND)

Girls Singles
1st - Nyah Robinson (STC)
2nd - Carline Popp (SJSH)
3rd - Mya Balfe (MSS)
4th - Zoey Folz (STM)
5th - Bryn Hobson (STC)
5th - Samantha Lavoie (FC)

Boys Doubles
1st - Dax Rolston/Thomas Berardelli (LCS)
2nd - Tyson Lapierre/Travis Bangs (FJM)
3rd - Samuel Leblanc/Cayden Hill (FC)
4th - Michael Brohart/Julien Kiernan (ESP)
5th - Gabriel Larocque/Brodie Mabbott (STC)
5th - Emmett Robinson/Noah Smith (CASS)

Girls Doubles
1st - Audrey Pitre/Ashley Rancourt (RDF)
2nd - Annie Boal/Lilly Gilbert (CSS)
3rd - Madison McCarville/Emma Watson (MSS)
4th - Emma Merigioli/Lexi Briscoe (HOR)
5th - Charlee Kennedy/Amy Clement (KOR)
5th - Alexis Russell/Brooklyn Laronde (WF)

Mixed Doubles
1st - Lily Wolfe/Jackson Peake (WF)
2nd - Chiana Rocca/Christian Mallet (CND)
3rd - Peyton Whalley/Aedon Leadstone (FJM)
4th - Prestlynn Biedermann/Jack Carter (MSS)
5th - Izzy Lanteigne/Ryder Coe (LCS)
5th - Karli Wunsch/Hunter Loya (SJSH)