Kitching Retains Welsh Title. The Yonex Welsh National Championships 2017 took place on Saturday 14th at Sport Wales National Centre, Cardiff. The day began with the Men’s Singles where last year’s finalists Will Kitching and Tsung Fong Mo were seeded first and second. Both players eased their way to the Semi Finals where they faced fellow third and fourth seeds Scott and Andrew Oates. Scott Oates had performed well in earlier rounds and faced fellow Cardiff Metropolitan University student, Tsung Fong Mo. Despite having 2 game points in the second set Oates failed to convert and Mo won the match 21-14, 22-20. Will Kitching had a tough battle against Andrew Oates who came through a hard fought three set Quarter Final match. However, Kitching’s experience paid off and he eventually won the match 18-21, 21-11, 21-18. The Final was a rematch of last year and was as competitive as ever but again Kitching prevailed and retained his title for a second year winning 22-20, 21-18. The Men’s Doubles saw 4 groups played with the top 2 from each advancing to the Quarter Finals. All 4 seeds made it through, although not all topped their groups. The Semi Finals saw Scott Oates & Nic Strange compete against James Ellaway & Oliver Stansfield. Their experience as a pairing for Cardiff Metropolitan University in the BUCS events paid off as they won 21-18, 21-17. In the other half of the draw Andrew Jones & Man Yin Ling faced Gareth Day & Will Kitching who were Semi Finalists last year. This year however, Day & Kitching managed to go a step further winning the Semi Final 21-17, 21-17. But it seemed that another win was a stretch too far for the pair and the title was won by Nic Strange & Scott Oates 21-19, 21-12. Posted by Carissa Turner on the Badminton Wales web page.
Warwickshire U19 Bronze Several players from the PC played in the Warwickshire U19 Bronze this month and turned out some very good performances within a strong field. 2nd seed Luke Robinson reached the semi final and Matthew Robinson, Matthew Bickerton, Carl Fordham and Greg Bennett all just missed out qualifying for the knockout stage with Carl losing out on a countback. The girls final was won by Elizabeth Hambling who just missed out reaching the mixed doubles final with her partner Brandon Adams Well done all.
U15 Gold Star Nottingham On January 14/15, 13 year old Chad Warren competed in the U15 Gold Star event in Nottingham. Despite two good wins in singles, an indifferent performance in the decider cost him the opportunity of winning his box. Regardless, Chad recovered his form well to win through to the Doubles semi-final with his partner, Stephen Jong from Shropshire. There they competed well but lost out to the tournament's eventual winners. Encouragingly Chad has now medalled six times in the last five Gold/Star tournaments.
Training and Coaching Anyone interested in some free coaching? Feb 12th at St Johns, 2 sessions 9am to 1pm and 1pm to 5pm.
For all those attending sessions on Tuesday's and Thursday's please ensure that you have a skipping rope in your bag for future training - thank you.