KERN AND ZHAO WIN BRONZE AT BADMINTON NATIONALS

The Georgian Grizzlies men's doubles team of Eric Kern and Ethan Zhao had a great showing last week at the 2018 Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association Badminton National Championships held at Concordia University of Edmonton.

Playing in their final collegiate championship as a duo Kern and Zhao put it all on the line battling hard in every match.

The duo had a 2-3 record through the round robin in what was a very tight competition of the best from across Canada. In two of their losses, the Grizzlies pushed the other team right to the limit going three games in each match.

This was important as the Grizzlies finished in a three-way tie for third place but earned the third seed based on their games played in those tight matches.

In the semi-finals, the Grizzlies duo faced their rivals from Humber and fell in two games, but that still set them up for a chance at a bronze medal.

In the finals Kern and Zhao faced the team of Luc-Ly Nguyen and Tyler Walsh from the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) and it was another tight contest.

After splitting the first two games, the Grizzlies put together an incredible effort to take the third game and the match 2-1 (21-11, 15-21, 21-12) to win the bronze medal.

The National medal puts a cap on an incredible run for Kern and Zhao as a men's doubles team.

They become just the second Georgian men's doubles team to win a National badminton medal joining the team of John Paynter and James Didiodato.

Kern and Zhao won a silver medal at the OCAA Championships last month and were the men's doubles bronze medalists at the OCAA Championships last year.

You can see the full results from the Championship by clicking here.