Junior/Adult tournament a massive success
East
Leake Badminton Club's first ever Junior/Adult tournament proved a huge
hit with all those taking part as well as proud mums, dads, relatives,
friends and senior members of the club.
The tournament, which took place on Sunday 18th December at East Leake
Leisure Centre, was highly competitive but played in a real spirit
of unity and mutual respect. Each junior was paired with an
adult
drawn at random the previous week and allocated a handicap to reflect
the range of differing standards and ensure fairness. Thirteen
pairs played in three separate groups with the winner
of each
group, together with the best overall runner-up, progressing to the
semi-finals. These group stages witnessed some fabulous
badminton
and terrifically close encounters with numerous games finishing 21 - 20.
The semi-finals
produced two wonderful matches which underlined the ability,
determination and potential of our magnificent junior players. The
first semi-final was a thriller between
Issy Paterson-Watts/Gordon
Newstead and Bill
Rogerson/Matt Tyminski. Issy and Gordon found their game early on,
producing some high quality badminton and stretching out what appeared
to be an unassailable lead. However, Bill and Matt justified
their
pre-tournament favourite status, clawing their way back from a
punishing -7 handicap to eventually prevail 21 - 19. The
second
semi-final also saw a superb encounter between Amber
Whitelock/Katherine Southwell and Imogen
Longton/Kev Dyson. Amber and Katherine put up a valiant fight
against their more experienced rivals but in the end Imogen
and Kev ran out 21 - 11 winners.
The
high standard continued into the final which again required Bill and
Matt to produce their best form to overturn their substantial handicap
deficit. Imogen and Kev displayed glimpses of brilliance with
some
superb shotmaking, but ultimately Bill and Matt proved
too powerful and captured the title with a 21 - 14 victory.

Triumphant champion, Bill Rogerson said: 'It was a brilliant
tournament. Everyone really enjoyed it and we can't wait again until
next year'. This view was echoed by Junior Co-ordinator, Adrian Mateo
who added: 'Apart from the badminton itself, one of the main
purposes of the competition was to introduce the juniors to
the
adult members so that when they are ready to come up to
the senior club they will know them and have already
formed a
friendship. I don't just think great friendships have been made
but a few potential badminton pairings as well'.
Cogratulations to Bill and Matt!
Previously...
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ee
previous Club news
Please
contact Club Publicity Officer, Adrian Mateo with any comments or ideas
on how this website can
be improved by sending an e-mail via Club Secretary, Gordon
Newstead, at:
gordon@eastleakebadmintonclub.co.uk