Southern Section Individual Badminton Championships : Troy’s Tran Surprises Top-Seeded Tang to Win Girls’ Title

Sophomore Barbara Tran of Troy High School used a combination of drop shots and long lobs to upset top-seeded Eileen Tang of Covina, 11-3, 11-3, to win the Southern Section girls’ singles badminton championship Saturday at Cal State Dominguez Hills.

The third-seeded Tran, who defeated second-seeded Stacy Murty of Miraleste in a semifinal match, 11-7, 11-6, was never seriously threatened in the final. After trailing, 2-1, early in the first game, she scored eight unanswered points to take a 9-2 lead.

A point by Tang interrupted Tran’s streak, but Tran used a series of well-placed shots to score the last two points.

Tran also scored the first two points of the second game and never gave up the lead, using a combination of long lobs and short shots to win the match and the championship.

The victory, Tran’s first in three meetings with Tang, also marked Tang’s first defeat in 50 matches this season. Tang advanced to the finals by beating Grace Vanoseren of Katella, 11-1, 11-1, in her semifinal.

“I thought the (final) match was going to be a lot closer,” Marv Hoover, Troy coach, said. “But Barbara moved her around with her shots, and that really made the difference. She’s very self-confident and is very cool under pressure.”

Said Tran: “I was looking forward to playing Eileen again, but the match wasn’t as easy as it looked. I made some good clearing and drop shots, but she didn’t move around very well to get them.”

In the boys’ final, fourth-seeded Hoang Ly of Estancia was unable to contain the power game of Diamond Bar’s Marc Carrido, who pulled out a 15-8, 18-15 victory.

Ly, who was completing his first year of badminton competition, fought to a 13-13 tie in the second game before Carrido used a series of dunk shots to score the victory and win the championship.

Carrido reached the final by beating Song Hong of Glendale, 11-15, 15-8, 15-7. Ly beat Alta Loma’s Dan Mosman, 15-4, 15-12, in the other semifinal.

In the girls’ doubles final, sisters Angela and Christien Armandariz of Glendale won their third consecutive Southern Section championship by defeating Heather Hassinger and Tonya Vandervort of Buena Park, 15-10, 15-7.

The Armendarizes reached the finals by defeating Renee Cisrenos and Mette Holmgard of Colton, 15-0, 12-15, 15-5. Hassinger and Vandervort scored a 15-11, 7-15, 15-9 victory over Bev Bitanga and Marie Nool of Palm Springs in their semifinal.

In other semifinal action Saturday, Estancia’s Ly and An Nguyen were defeated by eventual champions Morten Jorgensen and Holmgard of Colton, 15-6, 17-15, 15-5, in mixed doubles.

In the boys’ doubles semifinals, Garden Grove’s Phi Ta and Binh Tranh were eliminated by eventual champions Yong Park and Anil Bharwani of Nogales, 15-1, 17-14.