The U21 World Championships are currently underway in Lanarka, Cyprus, and Canadians Sophie Bukovec and Tia Miric have qualified for the quarterfinals. 

The top-ranked Canadian team in the tournament finished a top of Pool B with a record of 4-1, besting teams from Rwanda, Kazakhstan, Paraguay, and Germany while dropping their lone match to Poland. 

The Germans defeating Poland granted them first place in the pool and a bye to the second round, where they defeated Latvia 21-16, 21-13. They will face Kociolek/Gruszcynska in the quarterfinals, the Polish team they lost to in pool play. 

Other News from U21’s

The McNamara twins, Nicole and Megan, came through qualification defeating Cyprus and Greece. In the Main Draw, they finished second in their pool with a record of 4-1, defeating Nicaragua, Ecuador, Australia, and Latvia while falling to Germany. Unfortunately, the twins were upset by Mexico in the first round, 21-13, 19-21, 11-15, leaving them in 17th. They will get another crack at reaching to podium next week when to travel to Portugal for the U19 World Championships.

The lone Canadian men’s team in the Main Draw, Sergey Grabovsky and Chris Towe, finished in third in their pool with a record of 2-3. They defeated Austria and Egypt, and suffered losses at the hands of Russia, Netherlands, and Japan. Their tournament ended with a first round loss to Ukraine 21-16, 21-12 for a 17th place finish. Chris Towe will join up with Jake Macneil to compete in Portugal next week as well.

The final Canadian team, Lucas and Liam Palmer failed to make it out of qualification. They defeated Austria in a marathon match, 21-16, 28-30, 19-17, but fatigue got the best of them in another that went the limit against Russia, falling 17-21, 21-19, 13-15.