Badminton Report 13.01.08
Brilliant Nottingham Open Tournament for Daniel Font
Partnering Oliver Gwylt (Powys), in the U15 Gold tournament, Daniel had a terrific run in the Boys doubles. They fought their way to the final despite Daniel being ill just before the competition. The final against Tom Wolfenden (Liverpool) and Matthew Andrews (Yorkshire) could have gone either way. Down 23-28 they fought back to 30-30 but could not quite get the last point, losing 30-31.
Two days later they played even better. The two 14 year olds excelled themselves in the U17 Boys doubles. They faced the GB number one pair of Chris Coles and Matthew Nottingham in the semis. In a thrilling game of high class, exciting and exhausting rallies they just took the match 31-30 for the best win of their careers. In the final against Harley Tower and Daniel Groom they could not quite sustain the standard of play and lost 26-31. Welsh Coach/Manager, Eddie O'Neill, commented “both boys have really put themselves out there this season; I am amazed at their resilience and appetite for competition.”
Yorkshire 2 too strong for Flintshire U13s
Despite some very creditable performances Flintshire lost 5-15. Yorks number one boy had to retire after the singles and Yorks conceded two Boys doubles.
Matthew Vacher (Denbigh) played consistently well and won his four matches. He won his Singles comfortably 21-11, 21-9 but the doubles were closer. Playing with Elliot Wheeler (Flint) in the Boys he won 21-10, 14-21, 21-13. Playing with Isabelle Cain (CQ) he won 21-17, 18-21, 21-13. They are developing a successful partnership; Matthew is strong enough to take control of the back court and Isabelle is increasingly confident and effective at cutting out and killing shots at the net.
Lloyd Martin (Mold) had a close first game in his Singles losing 20-22 but did not move his opponent sufficiently around the court in the second game and lost 9-21. He played well in the Doubles with Tim Kingsnorth (Mold); they lost a close match 21-10, 14-21, 13-21.
Ellen Liddle (Flint) played tenaciously at second Girls Singles before losing 17-21, 18-21. Ellen and Isabelle never gave against the Yorks first pair taking them to three games before losing 15-21, 21-17, 13-21. Jessica Faulkner (CQ) played well on her debut partnering Sophie Ellis (Mold)
NEWRBA JUNIOR BADMINTON LEAGUE
Winners:
Div 1 Mold A
Div 2 Mold C
Div 3 Mold D
Div 4 Denbigh A
Div 5 Llanferres C
Division 1
Mold A Clearly the strongest team in the league gained another win dropping only one game throughout both of their matches with Connor Fenwick & Ben Hughes of the B team beating Jack Cooledge & Deiniol Hughes of the A team 13-7 in the 2 nd doubles. In the Buckley A v C.Quay A match Tom Hird & Frank Hopwood (Buckley) fought hard to take 10 points off Daniel Ellis & Jordon Jenkins (C.Quay) who eventually won 13-10
Division 2
Mold C won all 12 of their games to gain top spot and promotion to division 1.
Closest match was between Llanferres A and Prestatyn A with Prestatyn winning 5-1 with close games between 2 nd singles Max Griffiths and Hugo William 11-13 and 3 rd singles Louis Carney v Ananth Ranjit 13-10 both wins going to Prestatyn who have been steadily working their way up the divisions this season.
Division 3
Very tight match between Flint A and Deeside A ending with a win on points for Flint 3-3 (63-60) with Deeside showing strength in the singles and Flint taking both the doubles and one of the singles. 2 nd singles was a cliff hanger with Ellen Liddle (Flint) just losing out to Aran Jones (Deeside) 13-12
Division 4
Denbigh A won both their matches with Niall Duke fighting off Nathan Price (C.Q) with a storming 13-12 win in the singles. Nathan & partner Jessica Faulkner got their revenge in the doubles with a 13-11 win over Niall and partner Tom Warren.
Division 5
Llanferres C won both their games to take this division. Buckley C had some creditable performances from their all girl team losing 4-2 but very close on points Flint B had 63 points and Buckley C had 61 points