2016 US INTERNATIONAL CHALLENGE - NYL YAKURA RESULTS
ORANGE COUNTY, CA, USA: Humber's second-year badminton standout Nyl Yakura spent the last week in California, competing in two disciplines at the 2016 Yonex/K & D Graphics International Challenge.
Unseeded, Yakura and his partner B.R. Sankeerth, battled their way to the men's doubles finals. In three close games (25-23, 18-21, 21-15) they defeated the local American favourites, Daniel Gouw and Hock Lai in round two of play. Then, they went on to defeat two pairs from Team Taiwan (top tournament contenders) in the quarter and semifinals.
Yakura's run for a men's doubles championship fell short in the finals, where he lost in three games to the no. 2 seed from Denmark, made up of Frederik Colberg and Rasmus Fladberg.
In mixed doubles, Yakura was paired with fellow Canadian Brittney Tam, who together won a gold medal in the mixed team event at the Pan Am Badminton Championships in Brazil earlier this year.
After defeating the American team made up of Ajit Umrani and Minika Szoke (21-13, 21-15), Yakura and Tam fell to another American team. The American's, Howard Shu and Jamie Subandhi were members of the US Olympic team in Rio and were eventual finalists in the tournament. Despite their impressive resume, Yakura and Tam played the Olympians to three games, losing 22-20, 18-21, 20-22.
