SYDNEY – Taking It to the Court: Meet Jaicob Saini and Manpreet Singh

CBU students Jaicob Saini and Manpreet Singh have played badminton from a young age. Recently, they had the opportunity to represent CBU in the 2024 Yonex Atlantic Open, a badminton tournament in

Moncton, New Brunswick. The event saw competitors from across Canada go head-to-head in singles and doubles competition.

Growing up in India, badminton was a hugely popular sport with people of all ages playing both for leisure and competitively. Manpreet, a second-year student in the Post-Baccalaureate Diploma in

Government Management program, first got into the sport after watching his father playing at the provincial level. After this sparked his own interest, Manpreet began playing professionally in 2017

before bringing his talents to CBU in 2022. “CBU has supported my badminton career in every possible way since I arrived,” says Manpreet. “The University has excellent sports facilities and studying

here has been an absolute joy.”

For students who want to get their competitive juices flowing, CBU Rec provides leagues and tournaments. Artur explained that this branch includes 12 sports, as part of six sets of leagues, which

cover the fall, winter and spring months. The tournaments are usually one-day events – taking place once or twice per month – while the leagues cover a five-week period

Jaicob, a second-year Bachelor of Engineering Technology student, grew up in India with the sport passionately being played throughout his village and school. Jaicob and his friends honed their

skills by playing badminton almost every day before he went professional in 2013, a level he has continued to play at for more than a decade.

This year’s Yonex Atlantic Open saw 70 players competing in five different categories with both Jaicob and Manpreet playing in Singles and together in Doubles. By the end of the tournament, Jaicob

had finished with a silver medal for Men’s Singles which propelled him to number 13 in the Canadian Men’s Badminton ranking. Unfortunately, Manpreet suffered an injury on day one which left him

unable to play in Singles competition, but he continued to battle alongside Jaicob in Doubles. Both men now sit comfortably in the number one and two spots in the Singles and Doubles Atlantic

Canadian rankings.

Manpreet says learning he would be competing in this tournament was one of the greatest feelings he’s experienced. “It was challenging, but competing against the top players in Canada was such great

exposure,” says Manpreet. “I am very much looking forward to competing nationally again and hope to compete internationally someday too.”

Badminton is a fast-paced sport with quick exchanges and plenty of strategy behind shot placements, but both players say that shouldn’t deter anyone from giving it a try. Jaicob says when starting

out, newcomers should just enjoy the game and not worry about hitting the shuttle properly or getting the footwork down. Manpreet thinks the best thing to do is begin with the basics, join clubs or

take lessons, adding the more someone plays the better they will get.

To learn more about badminton opportunities at CBU, visit the Campus Life and Recreation webpage or reach out to Garrett Nicholson (garrett_nicholson@cbu.ca), Recreation and Sport Coordinator.