High school badminton athletes from around the province were at Peacock Collegiate on Saturday for the Moose Jaw Invitational Badminton Tournament.

The players battled throughout the day in one of the first tournaments of the season as they work towards spots at provincials later this month.

In the boys singles division, Assiniboia's Jonathan Harden edged out Vanier's Hayden Ma in the gold medal match. The two finalists fought back-and-forth in a three-set battle (21-16, 13-21, 21-8).

"It was quite the task, he's a great competitor, I just tried to get a good lead and then ride that out," said Harden, who is a grade 11 with Assiniboia.

"He made a couple of mistakes and then I'd make a couple of mistakes, but really it was pretty back-and-forth, it was a close game right until the end."

Ma hadn't finished in the top-three yet at either of the two league nights, but he put together a solid day to advance into the gold medal game on Saturday. The Vanier grade 11 said he was happy with how he performed, "Today I had some good shots and we had a really good battle in the final," he said.

"I just need to practice and clean up my mistakes, hopefully I can face Jonathan again in districts and beat him."

Cornerstone's Joel Godard claimed third place in the boys singles division, beating Brayden from Avonlea in two sets (21-13, 21-13).

Fellow Falcon Rung Thai took first place in the girls singles division after she beat Caronport's Melissa Ellis in three sets (21-18, 12-21, 21-13) in the final.

"I want to have fun, I want to make my school be the winner and I practice hard, so I want to get to be the best that I can," said Thai. "The competition here was very good."

Third place in the division went to Cloe Forest from Ecole Mathieu as she knocked off Central's Katie Coulson in two sets (21-13, 21-15) in the bronze medal match.

Moving over to mixed doubles, the Central duo of Brenden and Ashlyn Jesse captured gold with a two-set win (21-18, 21-16) over Rouleau's Ethan and Kaetlyn. Peacock's team of Chantel Usher and Saim Farooqui finished in third place.

In girls doubles, Lindsay Hawkins and Morgan Delorme out of Assiniboia finished in top spot, beating their Rockets teammates, Sarah Feeley and Callie Morhart in two close sets (21-19, 21-19). The bronze medal game saw the Caronport team of Raquelle Gibbons and Mackenzie Lobb come out on top.

The Central team of Liam Kerr and Carter Voth won gold in the boys doubles division, beating Vanier's team of Cooper Cole and Logan Hauser in two straight sets (21-7, 21-18). Cornerstone's John Ferris and Zach Beital claimed the bronze medal with a three-set win over Caronport's team of Ryley and Colton.

The senior league returns to the court here in Moose Jaw on Tuesday at Peacock, while the junior league is in action on Wednesday. The city finals go next week.