OLD DUO AT WORLDWIDE
Mathieu Morneau will not be the only one representing Quebec at the World University Badminton Championship in the coming days. In addition to singles, he will play in mixed doubles with Béatrice Guay, while she will also participate in the women’s doubles table with Virginie Savard.
The Laval University Rouge et Or trio, civilian component of the club in the case of Morneau since he is still in CEGEP, constitutes the entire Quebec delegation to this competition presented in the suburbs of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from October 15 to 21.
The other five Canadians to perform at Bukit Kiara’s Champion Stadium (Stadium Juara) this week are from Ontario, the universities of Toronto, Ryerson and Western Ontario.
Beaulieu retires
Morneau was initially scheduled to team up with her Canadian championship teammate Anne-Julie Beaulieu, but the then-graduating player has since decided to retire from badminton to focus on her legal career. He therefore turned to Guay, whom he has known for nearly ten years.
In addition to being an excellent badminton player and third-year psychoeducational student, Guay is involved with deaf and hard of hearing children. Herself suffering from deafness from a young age, she wants to demonstrate that success is accessible to them despite this difficulty. His career and his smile are convincing examples.
“We trained together every afternoon in high school for three years,” recounts the 21-year-old, who looks both admiringly and lovingly on her friend and teammate.
“We’ve known each other for so long, our relationship has changed since then. But I never imagined he would be so successful when he was in high school, say. It’s very impressive and I hope it will continue to work, because he works really hard, ”said the native of Saint-Étienne-de-Lauzon.
They met at PEPS three years ago, but their common tournament experience is still quite limited. Kuala Lumpur will be their first real tournament together. A bit like Guay and Savard, who spent little time in the same gymnasium recently since Savard is continuing her medical studies as a resident at the Gaspé hospital.
To say that the girls had not even won the Canadian university title, but their opponents in the final had passed the age limit of 25 to be eligible for the World University.
