REID, WONG, NG EARN TOP OCAA BADMINTON AWARDS

HAMILTON, Ont. - The top badminton players and coach in the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) were honoured Thursday night at the Courtyard by Marriott in Hamilton as part of the 2012 OCAA Badminton Championships being hosted by Redeemer University College.

Tracy Wong is now the two-time OCAA women's badminton player of the year. The second-year Humber player continued her domination of the OCAA in both singles and doubles events, going undefeated for a second straight season despite a late start due to injury.

At the recent OCAA West regionals, Wong won gold in women's singles with an average score of 21-3. Wong is now a two-time all-Canadian, and is a nominee for the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) women's player of the year. She was a CCAA bronze medalist in women's singles last season. Wong was the only female badminton athlete to compete for Canada at the 2010 Youth Olympics in Singapore.

Dayvon Reid is the OCAA men's badminton player of the year. The fourth-year George Brown student is a former Jamaican national junior team player. He has won medals in each of the past three OCAA championships, including two silvers in men's singles and a gold last season in men's doubles. He along with his men's doubles partner Mark Wong won gold medals in five OCAA tournaments this past season, including the East regionals.

Reid has improved technically and has worked hard to improve his physical fitness. Reid is a two-sport OCAA athlete, playing with the George Brown soccer team as part of his preparation for badminton this season. Reid also contributes as a youth coach having earned his Level 1 Technical National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP) certification. Reid is an all-Canadian and a nominee for the CCAA men's player of the year.

George Brown's Kim Ng is the 2012 OCAA coach of the year. George Brown has shown improvement in their play in 2011-12, and Ng is a key reason why. The recruitment of Wong and the development of both he and Reid has helped produce one of the top men's doubles teams in the province. The addition and development of Boryana Yankova has improved George Brown in the women's singles category over the previous season.

Ng is a strong technical and tactical coach for, however, his greatest contribution is as mentor and teacher of positive living skills. He ensures that his student athletes put school first and he supports their career development as much as possible. Ng is the OCAA nominee for the CCAA coach of the year.

The OCAA Badminton Championships takes place Friday and Saturday.

- OCAA -

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The Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) is a recognized leader in intercollegiate athletics in the province, dedicated to student athlete and sport development. The OCAA has 31 members sponsoring 16 league and tournament championships.

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