UK Tournaments
Daniel Font (Flintshire) competed in the Liverpool Badminton England U17 Silver tournament and lost in two exciting finals; in the singles 13-21, 21-13, 10-21 to Burnsroa of Shropshire and in the doubles partnering Olliver Gwilt (Powys) 15-11, 18-20,12-15.
Jonathan Savory (Flintshire) played well when competing in the Thornton Badminton England U17 Bronze tournament. He won all his group games against Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cheshire players to go through to the semi-final but lost narrowly 22-24 to the eventual winner.
In the doubles, partnering Joshua au Yeung (Conwy), he won two group games 21-12, 21-19 but lost 18-21 to the eventual winners.
NEWRBA annual Junior tournament – U15s and U11s.
U15s
A wonderful entry for the boys singles (20) but only 6 in the girls.
Joe Travers had a comfortable run to the final beating Simon Jones 21-4 and Alex Graham 21-13. Matthew Vacher (U13) beat Andrew Finnigan 21-12 and Chris Owen in a tough quarter-final 21-16. The final was a real cliff-hanger with Matthew battling hard and forcing Joe into errors in the exhausting first game. Joe just won 24-22. The effort of chasing Joe's shots all over the court took a toll on Matthew's stamina and Joe took control to win the second game 21-11.
In the first doubles semi Matthew Burrows and Dan Hardman deserved their surprise victory over Joe and Alex, playing steadily and cutting out errors, to win 23-21. In the second semi Adam Spencer and Jack Ellis beat Chris Owen and Ben Hughes 21-14. Matt and Dan won the final comfortably 21-15, 21-9 mainly through very accurate short serving and making few errors.
In the girls singles semis Tara Moorcroft beat Victoria Wheeler 21-11 and Danielle Oates beat Eli Clough 21-6. The final was a close contest involving terrific skill. Tara won the first game 21-13 but, in the second, Danielle kept playing long rallies and put Tara under real stress. Tara just won 21-19 but she might not have coped with a third game.
The doubles final was also close and tiring. Danielle and Eli just beat Tara and Victoria 21-17, 19-21, 21-13.
The mixed doubles was another close three setter. Joe and Tara beat Chris and Danielle 13-21, 21-18, 21-14.
The U11s had no girls entries but the 6 boys made up for it with excellent games showing we have some great talent coming up. In the semis Scott Oates beat younger brother Andrew 15-9 and Alastair McCracken beat Andre Schoneveld 15-8. The final was close but Scott just kept in front before winning 21-16. In the doubles Alastair got his revenge, playing with James Hinchcliffe, to beat Scott and Andrew 21-15.
College Badminton Championships
Deeside College have started a badminton club as part of the College Curriculum Enrichment programme.
The team, coached by Steve Hough, competed at Llandrillo College in a regional round and acquitted themselves admirably considering that some of the players have only recently taken up the sport. Matches were all the best of three games to 21 points. Winners go through to UK finals later.
Men's singles
The two strongest players elected to play in the singles. Andy Jones won all his four group games, but lost in the semi-final to the eventual winner. Tom Burke won three of his four group games.
Men's Doubles
Craig Connah and Chris Elwood won three out of four of their group matches and only just lost in the final. This partnership has only practiced together for two weeks.
Ladies Doubles
Rachel Blood and Jess Peterson lost in the semi final. It was exhausting for Jess as she was also competing for the netball team.
Ladies Doubles
Katie Goulding and Chelsey Whitby, who have also only recently started playing, were runners up in the final. Katie was carrying an injured knee but despite being in hospital the previous Thursday evening, and her knee iced packed most of Friday and over the weekend, played courageously.
Mixed Doubles
Stephanie Jones and Nathan Tam were walk-over winners as two other pairs did not turn up.