Season preview: Badminton returns to rebuilding after 2022 postseason success

Junior Avik Belenje and freshman Ishir Gupta play a doubles match together during a practice on Feb. 9.

The badminton team hopes to come back strong despite losing key players and changing head coaches.

Head Coach: Thomas Ching

Last year’s record: 1-9

Recap: Despite little success in the regular season, the Falcons finished second in CCS led by senior star player Adrian Mar, who also placed first in boys’ singles individually.

Key Matchups: Palo Alto and Wilcox

Star Players: Seniors Jason Liu, Evan Oaklander and Tony Guo; junior Sannidhi Bopanna; and sophomore Samanvi Bopanna

Key losses to graduation: Adrian Mar and Enoch Jung

League: El Camino

Prognosis:

After head coach John Li didn’t return the team, the Falcons are adjusting to new coach Thomas Ching, who also coached girls’ volleyball earlier this year.

Because Ching is unfamiliar with the state of the team, he is having players compete in drills to assess the general ranking. Players who want to play singles for the season compete among themselves for Ching to determine which ones should play at which levels. Those who wanted to play doubles or mixed doubles faced off, playing a round-robin tournament so that each player got the chance to play everyone else.

Additionally, Ching wants to have set positions, something that Li did not have in previous years.

After losing key players like Enoch Jung and Adrian Mar to graduation, many returning players are unsure what they will be playing or who they will be playing with, especially with a larger influx of freshmen this year.

The team mostly consists of novice-level players who have been only playing for a year, though there are a few standouts, including seniors Jason Liu and Evan Oaklander and sister duo junior Sannidhi Bopanna and sophomore Samanvi Bopanna. They hope that their top-end talent can lead them to CCS again this year.

Their first match against Wilcox on March 7 will provide a clearer picture of their abilities with their many newcomers.

“The team has seen some rising talent and hopefully as we keep players continuing in the same event throughout the season, it will lead to more success,” Samanvi said. “Between losing key players, and maintaining a strong novice presence, I think we will encounter many setbacks but CCS is not out of reach.”