Badminton players from La Fontaine de Néguac Community School have done their bit again this weekend by collecting seven medals at the Provincial Open Championships held at St. Malachy’s High School. Joseph Thibodeau and Jessie Savoie-Robichaud, both from Lagacéville, were the most prolific with two medals each, including one gold.
Thibodeau, who is only 17, covered himself with gold in the U-23 men’s singles in addition to getting his hands on the silver in the U-19 men’s doubles with his teammate Marc- Olivier Breau.
16-year-old Savoie-Robichaud triumphed in the U-19 women’s singles and took third place in the U-19 women’s doubles with her teammate Marilou Robichaud.
“We expected to get some medals, but there were still some nice surprises,” said coach Alain Comeau. I am thinking, among other things, of Joseph’s victory in the U-23 single. He was the youngest player in the tournament and he beat older guys from the Shippagan campus and the Saint-Jean area. ”
“As for Jessie, the only girl who could have really stopped her from winning was her sister Terri, but she had a volleyball tournament this weekend,” said the coach.
Note that these seven medals come one week after their unequivocal triumph at the New Brunswick Inter-School Sports Association Championships, where Néguac won for a second consecutive year the junior and senior banners at level A.
The next stop for the representatives of Néguac are the Atlantic Championships (May 13-15) and the Canadian Championships (May 16-21) which will be held in Moncton.
Alain Comeau plans to send a dozen athletes to the Atlantic. Joseph Thibodeau and sisters Jessie and Terri Savoie-Robichaud will however be the only representatives of the Center La Fontaine at the Canadian meeting.
“I expect good results in the Atlantic, but it could be difficult at the national,” said Comeau. During the March break, we played in a tournament in Toronto and it’s pretty much the same caliber of play we’re going to have in Moncton. The tournament in Toronto has shown us that there is still a lot of work to do before we can compete with the best athletes in the country. Our players still lack a bit of experience. Our big year is 2017 because Joseph and the two sisters will be in grade 12 by then. ”
The other three medals collected at the weekend by Center La Fontaine came from Amanda Plourde and Allison Robichaud (bronze, U-17), in the women’s doubles, Rose Comeau and Chloé Comeau (silver, U-17), in the women’s double, and Philippe Savoie (bronze, U-19), in the men’s singles.
The badminton team from the Université de Moncton, Shippagan campus also did well with a total of four podiums.
Brian Duguay won silver in the U-19 men’s singles, Patrick Lanteigne finished third in the U-23 men’s singles, while Marilou Robichaud took bronze in the U-17 women’s singles and in the U-19 women’s doubles with Jessie Savoie-Robichaud from Center La Fontaine. Note also the victory of Dominic Duguay in the consolation final of the U-23 men’s singles.
