Wong Rolls Through Championship Day

Bonnie Wong took advantage of what she says is her last chance to win any titles, and walked away with a triple crown Sunday, winning three championships at the U.S. Junior National Badminton Championships at the Orange County Badminton Club in Orange.

Wong, a recent graduate of Villa Park High and a member of the western region’s junior national -training program, won the under-19 girls’ singles, doubles and mixed doubles titles, defeating training program teammates in each final.

However, the 18-year-old, who will attend UC Santa Barbara this fall, hinted that September’s Senior International Championships may be her last competition.

“This was definitely the last chance I had to win anything,” said Wong, who chose not to compete at the high school level this season. “I’ll get knocked out in the first round in the [senior tournament]. Everyone there is way too good.

“I don’t want this to be my last year of playing. But with school, I don’t know how I can do both.”

Wong and her brother Raymond, the top-seeded team, won the mixed doubles title, defeating third-seeded May Mangkalakiri and Mike Chansawangpuvana of Orange, 15-13, 15-4. In singles, Wong held up her top seeding with an 11-8, 11-6 victory over Amy Nguy of Orange. Later, Wong and Mangkalakiri knocked off top-seeded Nguy and Orange’s Casey Peters in doubles, 15-5, 15-11.

“We were on a roll,” Mangkalakiri said. “I knew Bonnie had a chance to win the triple crown and I didn’t want to mess it up for her.”

Mangkalakiri, who moved up to 19s this year, won the triple crown last year in 16s. This year, she won the doubles title with Wong but lost in the mixed doubles final and in the singles semifinals, to Nguy.

“I was playing too slow,” she said. “I wasn’t playing to kill, I was playing to be careful.”

Orange’s Matt Sakulrattanakom took home two titles, winning the 17s boys’ doubles and mixed doubles. Sakulrattanakom and Jeffrey Soonlan of Orange defeated Long Beach’s Nicholas Jinadasa and Garden Grove’s Nick Mangkalakiri in boys’ doubles, 15-10, 17-14. Sakulrattanakom teamed with Orange’s Connie Hwang to defeat Jinadasa and Amanda Lum of Manhattan Beach, 15-6, 15-2.

Chansawangpuvana, who won two titles last year in the 16s, came away with one title in the 19s this year, winning the boys’ doubles with Orange’s Raymond Wong. The top-seeded team defeated Colorado Springs’ Eric Go and Raju Rai, 15-3, 15-12. Go defeated Chansawangpuvana in the 17s singles, 15-4, 15-5.

Other county players to win titles were:

Brendan Taft (Orange) and Daniel Gouw (San Jose) defeated Michael Gibbs (Redondo Beach) and Vincent Nguy (Silver Spring, Md.), 15-6, 15-6, in 15s boys’ doubles.

Howard Shu (Anaheim) and Richard Fung (Monterey Park) defeated Ian McKinley and Bobby Osgood (both of Marblehead, Mass.), 15-3, 15-5, in 11s boys’ doubles.

Six-year-old Phillip Chew (Orange) and Allen Hsu (Manhattan Beach) defeated Joseph Capparilli (Manhattan Beach) and Brendan Lum (San Francisco), 15-2, 15-8, in 9s boys’ doubles.