By Dan Marshall

Badminton takes over Nanaimo’s Oliver Woods Community Centre

Sep 29, 2017 | 7:59 AM

NANAIMO — The gymnasium at Oliver Woods Community Centre will be home to high level badminton this weekend.
 
Ninety-one athletes are registered for the three day Nanaimo Open and Masters Tournament.
 
The entrants are from Vancouver Island, the lower mainland, and Alberta.
 
Oliver Woods will be divided into eight courts for men’s and women’s singles and doubles matches, as well as mixed doubles.
 
Organizer Janice Walker says this is the fourth Nanaimo tournament with the combined open and masters categories
 
The masters division will start at 30+ and move in ten year increments up to 70+.
 
Walker is in charge of the seeding, and notes there are no top seeds from Nanaimo.
 
There are however local players ranked in the top four in various categories.
 
Part of the field in the open division will be from Vancouver Island University.
 
There isn’t an official PACWEST tournament schedule but VIU will be hosting a post secondary tournament from November 10-12.
 
There is a thanksgiving tournament that the Mariners might be a part of as well, but that’s still undecided.
 
As for the badminton this weekend, the matches start Friday night at 6 p.m. and continue through Sunday afternoon at Oliver Woods.  
 
 
dan@nanaimonewsnow.com
 
On twitter: @danmarshall