Caleb Kao and Anvit Vemuri weren’t doubles partners in 2023. They also weren’t Jericho’s first doubles team in 2024. But the two have been building chemistry together since becoming friends in the fourth grade.
Eight years later, they’re leaving as the best boys badminton duo in Nassau County.
“I started to play badminton was because my friends were playing,” Kao said. “I’m just really glad to get the chance to win it with Anvit.”
Kao and Vemuri defeated Alex Ross and Sunny Wu of Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK, 21-13, 21-19, at the Nassau boys badminton individual championships on Saturday at POB JFK Middle School. In singles, Haoran Xia of Great Neck South defeated POB JFK’s Raymond Li, 21-9, 21-10.
Kao remembers feeling a bit disappointed after finishing as a runner-up in 2023, making this year’s triumph even sweeter. He admitted that he was preparing for a third game when trailing 19-17 in the second, but he and Vemuri combined for four consecutive points to secure the Nassau doubles title.
“We just wanted to keep increasing our level each and every practice,” Vemuri said. “We felt each game we played we were learning more as a team. In the end, it all paid off.”
Anvit Vemuri, right, of Jericho, celebrates after winning the doubles match at the Nassau boys badminton finals at Plainview on Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. Credit: Neil Miller
Xia earned a similarly emotional win, capping off his six-year varsity career with the Nassau singles title after losing in the semifinals in 2022 and 2023, and falling in the quarterfinals in 2021.
Xia found himself staring down the barrel of a third-consecutive exit in the semifinal round. He lost the first set, 21-15, Jericho’s Jerry Zhang, and fell behind 9-4 in the second. The Great Neck South star remembered the lyrics and played to the beat of “Phoenix” by Cailin Russo and Chrissy Costanza from the 2019 League of Legends World Championship.
Haoran Xia, right, of Great Nech South, celebrates after winning a singles match, against Raymond Li, of Plainview-Old Bethpage at the Nassau boys badminton finals at Plainview on Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. Credit: Neil Miller
“It goes, ‘So are you gonna die today or make it out alive? You gotta conquer the monster in your head and then you’ll fly,’ ” Xia said. “It just played through my head.”
He did fly, right into the singles championship match. When Xia joined varsity as a seventh grader, he said he lacked confidence. Since then, he’s risen up the ranks of the lineup, eventually earning the right to compete at the county tournament he now sits atop of.
“Don’t be afraid to lose,” Xia said. “Believe in yourself, even if you’re down by five or down by 20 points, don’t give up.”
