Howard Zheng leads Jericho to Nassau boys badminton team title

Howard Zheng has been a leader for the Jericho boys badminton team all season, coming up clutch for them time and time again.

On Friday when faced with his biggest challenge of the season, Zheng was called upon to do it again.

Dropping the first set 21-14 to opponent Justin Choi with the team’s season hanging in the balance, Zheng won the next two sets, 21-13 and 21-11, to lead the Jayhawks to a 4-3 victory over Great Neck South in the Nassau boys badminton championship at Plainview JFK-Old Bethpage Middle School.

“After I lost my first set I told myself to keep on pushing to give my 100% since this is the last game of the fall season,” Zheng said.

Zheng lacked aggression early on against Choi and didn’t feel his approach was going to give his team the final win it needed.

“In the first set my speed was very slow and I wasn’t taking attack chances very much,” Zheng said.

“In the second and third (set) I was more confident in myself and I started attacking more and that did the trick.”

After securing the final point against Great Neck South, Zheng and his teammates rushed the court screaming and celebrating their championship, which happens to be their fourth title in a row.

“They have so much heart,” coach Mark Burkowsky said. “These guys have been on fire the whole season.”

That fire was on display when Jericho (15-0) won in first doubles behind Jonathan Chau and Jerry Zhang (21-16, 21-15), second doubles with Siddhant Tandon and William Wang (21-15, 21-9) and third doubles with Vincent Qiu and Anvit Vemuri (21-11, 21-18).  Great Neck South (12-4) secured victories in the final doubles match and the second and third singles matches. The fate of the season was put in Zheng’s hands.

“Howard is our work horse and our leader… if there was anybody who deserved to be that last player on the court it’s Howard,” Burkowsky said.

Moving forward Jericho will have a long break before they play the Suffolk representative for the Long Island championship in June. In its inception last year, Jericho defeated Half Hollow Hills to become the first ever L.I. champion in boys badminton. According to coach Burkowsky the team is eager and driven more than ever to repeat because of their love for the game and each other.

“These kids come to play, there’s no scholarships for these kids in college unfortunately at the moment, so they’re here because they want to be here.”