Long Beach High School Badminton Preview

With a full offseason and increased participation, the 2022 Moore League badminton season is shaping up to be a competitive one after a shortened 2021 season resulted in only one round being played.

After getting a late start last season and some teams being unable to have practices, the Moore League coaches decided not to crown a Moore League champion.

At Poly, coach Steven Meckna and the Jackrabbits return senior Prongha Talukder who was the runner up in singles last season.

Along with Talukder, senior Albert Lee Theng and Juan Vasquez are expected to lead the team.

While the Jackrabbits are ready for the season, last season’s decision not to crown a champion is something Meckna and the team won’t forget.

“Last season the closest game was 18 games to 3,” Meckna said. “We essentially dominated.”

The Jackrabbits will try to continue that dominance this season.

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On the West side, Cabrillo will have co-head coaches with Russian Galima joining Tina Thanh Tran.

Cabrillo was one of the teams last season that had low numbers and wasn’t able to field a junior varsity team.

“We had a whole school year this time,” Tran said. “We went into this season knowing we need to (get kids into the program) and get them motivated.”

The Jaguars will rely on the leadership of senior Princess Culas and sophomore captain Autumn Yang.

On the boys side, it will be a family affair for Cabrillo as Jayden De Guzman, Jedrek De Guzman and Imart De Guzman will look to lead the Jaguars against the rest of the lead.

At Lakewood the Lancers will be build transition after losing a lot of seniors.

Coach Michael Christensen expects his team to compete for the title with a good mix of experienced players.

In doubles, seniors Brandon San and Ivan Khensovan will lead the team in doubles. On the girls side, senior Samantha Ho will team up with sophomore Allison Heng.

The Lancers’ second doubles unit will be Karen Tran and Amanda Chhoy.

In singles, the Lancers are still deciding who the top two will be but seniors Tyler Tieu and Harris Neong will compete with freshman Jacob Vong for the top two spots.