Cambridgeshire Senior Restricted Tournament 2024

After over 100 matches, the Cambridgeshire Senior Restricted tournament for 2024 concluded on Sunday 29th October. Over 75 players took part across the five events, a record number of entries for the county, with the tournament having the fifth highest number of entries for all county restricted tournaments nationally.

It was fantastic to see the quality and depth of players available this year, particularly the amount of junior players being competitive with some of our top county players.

The full results can be found here.

The winners and runners-up for each event are as follows:
Open Singles - Oscar Keys (winner), Maurice Frijns (runner-up)
Women’s Singles - Alison Meijers (winner), Polly Thisdell (runner-up)
Mixed Doubles - Chris Lim & Alison Meijers (winners), Campbell Wilson & Zoe Foote (runners-up)
Open Doubles - Abu Kaher & Chris Tustian (winners), Chris Lim & Matthew Harris (runners-up)
Women’s Doubles - Amber Ngo & Zoe Foote (winners), Sara Cunnington & Alison Meijers (runners-up)

Thank you to everyone who took part. Congratulations to all the winners and finalists, and a huge thank you to our Tournament Organiser, Zoe Foote, as well as Louise Short for your support on the day.

Campbell Wilson
Chairman
Cambridgeshire Badminton

Amelia Martell awarded Eric Raynor Trophy

The County annual AGM sees the award of the Eric Raynor Trophy.  This award is made annually to the junior player who has been voted as having contributed most to the County this season - who has made excellent progress in the sport, enjoyed competitive success, and is considered to have set a good example both on and off court.  Players can be nominated to the committee by the county’s coaches.

The Eric Raynor Trophy for 2023-24 was awarded to Amelia Martell with the following citation:

Amelia has been a committed and integral member of the County junior squad this year. She has regularly attended county training and has represented the county in all of the U19 Shires league matches this year. 

Amelia has demonstrated a real commitment to improve and has made great progress this year; with success at competitive levels. 

She has won and placed in several Bronze and Silver U17 BE tournaments. At the beginning of the year she joined Ely club and has enjoyed playing in both their levels and mixed teams. Recently she represented the East of England Colleges regional team at the AOC national colleges event at Nottingham University and contributed to the team's overall finishing position of 4th out of 9. 

Amelia has completed her Level 1 Foundation coaching award and is looking forward to helping out with junior coaching sessions, where she has already contributed by leading warmups and helping with younger players. 

Amelia always conducts herself with excellent sportsmanship and an irrepressible smile, and is a great role model for her younger peers. She is a deserved winner of the trophy this year.

Senior County Championships Weekend 3 Round Up

Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th March 2024 saw all three senior county teams in action. The 1st team took on Warwicks 2, Yorkshire 2 and Glasgow in Retford, Cambs 2 played Warwicks 4, Worcester 3 and Shropshire 1 in Oakham and Cambs 3 were in Peterborough, playing Essex 4s and Lincs 2s.

Cambs 1 played in Divsion 1 North and had two close 6-5 losses on Saturday against Warwicks 2 and Yorkshire 2, and were met with tough opponents Glasgow on Sunday, who went into the match as top of the league, which resulted in a 10-1 loss. Unfortunately, the 1st team lost out of remaining in the division by 2 points and so will be relegated to Division 2 for next season, hopefully returning to Div 1 again for the 2025/26 season.

Pictured on the back row left to right: Chris Tustian, Finlay Smith, Oscar Keys, Campbell Wilson, Ben Gardner and Chris Lim.

Pictured on the front row left to right: Zoe Foote, Natalie Taylor, Sara Cunnington and Amber Ngo.

Cambs 1 vs Warwicks 2.

Cambs 1 vs Yorkshire 2.

Cambs 1 vs Glasgow.

Cambs 2, playing in Division 3 Central, displayed real strength on Saturday, only dropping 1 rubber. They beat Warwicks 4, 10-1 and followed up with an 11-0 win against Worcestershire 3s. They rounded off the weekend with a 9-2 win over Shropshire on Sunday. This meant they won an impressive 30 out of a possible 33 rubbers across the weekend. Cambs 2 finished top of the league and will be promoted to Division 2 next season!

Pictured on the back row left to right: Maurice Frijns, Alex Wilson, Martin Crossley, Simon Parker and Scott Carter.

Pictured on the front row left to right: Steph Potten, Sara Moore, Helen Yan and Briony Whitfield.

Cambs 2 vs Warwicks 4.

Cambs 2 vs Worcs 3.

Cambs 2 vs Shropshire.

Cambs 3, in Division 4 Central, started their morning with an 7-4 win against Essex 4 and continued their winning ways with a 9-2 win against Lincs 2.

Cambs 3 topped the league table for Division 4 Central and will be promoted to Division 3 next season!

Pictured on the back row from left to right: Luke Bennett, Sam Shepherd, David Nuzzo, Damien Dugmore and Jack Curtis.
Pictured on the front row from left to right: Adeline Henderyckx, Nicole Wong, Gem Liew and Polly Thisdell.

Cambs 3 vs Essex 4.

Cambs 3 vs Lincs 2.

A big congratulations to all players who represented Cambridgeshire this season!

Senior County Championships Weekend 2 Round Up

Saturday 20th January 2024 saw all three senior county teams in action. The 1st team took on Notts 2 and Derby 1 in Leicester, Cambs 2 played Beds 2 and Worcester 2 in Rutland and Cambs 3 were on home turf at Swavesey, playing Lincs 2 and Northants 3.

Cambs 1 played in Divsion 1 North and took a great 6-5 win against Notts 2, followed by an 8-3 loss to a strong Derby side.

Pictured left to right: Chris Tustian, Oscar Keys, Finlay Smith, Chris Lim, Campbell Wilson, Zoe Foote, Alison Meijers, Amber Ngo, Ben Gardner, Natalie Taylor and Sara Cunnington.

Cambs 1 vs Notts 2.

Cambs 1 vs Derby 1.

Cambs 2, playing in Division 3 Central, started off their day with a 6-5 win against Bedfordshire 2s, followed by a 7-4 defeat to Worcestershire 2s, leaving them 2 points behind Worcestershire in the division.

Second team players: Michael Duncan, Alex Wilson, Simon Parker, Martin Crossley, Scott Carter, Helen Yan, Briony Whitfield, Sara Moore and Steph Potten.

Cambs 2 vs Beds 2.

Cambs 2 vs Worcs 2.

Cambs 3, in Division 4 Central, started their morning with an 8-3 win against Lincs 2, the current leaders of the division going into the day, and continued their winning ways with a 10-1 win against Northants 3.

Back Row from left to right: Sylvia Ma, Polly Thisdell, Becky Donaldson, Gem Liew, Adeline Henderyckx.
Front Row from left to right: Damien Dugmore, David Nuzzo, Sam Shepherd, Harry Chan and Luke Bennett.

Cambs 3 vs Lincs 2.

Cambs 3 vs Northants 3.

A big congratulations to all players who represented Cambridgeshire as part of the second day of matches in the Senior County Championships. Cambs 3 will next be in action on 10th Feb and Cambs 1 and Cambs 2 will next play on 23rd March.

New ladies only Shuttle Hints Badminton Club

First session for a new ladies only badminton club this Thursday 7th September, 8-10pm at Trumpington Sport Centre.

Contact StacyKnoop7@gmail.com for more information.

Zach Chung to be awarded Eric Raynor trophy at AGM this evening

The County annual AGM sees the award of the Eric Raynor Trophy. This award is made annually to the junior player who has been voted as having contributed most to the County this season - who has made excellent progress in the sport, enjoyed competitive success, and is considered to have set a good example both on and off court. Players can be nominated to the committee by the county’s coaches.

The Eric Raynor Trophy for 2022-23 is awarded to Zach Chung with the following citation:

Zach has been an extremely dedicated member of the County junior squad this year. He has attended training regularly, always has a determined spirit to improve himself, and has made real progress with his game. Zach has represented the county in the Shires league with more than a 50% win rate in the U16/17 team, and always conducts himself with excellent sportsmanship and a smile. He is a credit to himself and a deserved winner of the trophy this year.

Because Zach is studying for his exams and the AGM is online, an in-person award of the trophy is not possible. He was awarded the trophy at a recent country squad training session. Cambridgeshire Badminton Association wishes Zach many congratulations on his award, and all the best for his exams!

2022-23 Senior County Championships

For the 2022-23 Senior County Championships, Cambridgeshire entered three teams. Both Cambs 1 and Cambs 2 were playing in the Division 2 Central league and Cambs 3 in the Division 3 South East League.

The first team won 6 out of their 7 matches, with the final match being a 6-5 loss in the other team’s favour. The team picked up 51 rubbers out of a possible 77. The team were crowned champions of the Division 2 Central league and have gained promotion into Division 1 for the 2023-24 season! Since the introduction of the new SCC format, this is the first time that Cambridgeshire have had a team in Divsion 1.

First team players for the 2022-23 season: Ben Gardner, Campbell Wilson, Chris Lim, Chris Tustian, Oscar Keys, Scott Carter, Amber Ngo, Briony Whitfield, Natalie Taylor, Sara Cunnington and Zoe Foote.

The second team also battled it out in a strong Division 2 Central league and despite a few matches that could have very easily been a win with numerous rubbers going the full distance to three ends, Cambs 2 will unfortunately be relegated to Division 3 for the 2023-24 season. We hope to see them back in Division 2 for the 2024-25 season!

Second team players for the 2022-23 season: Harry Chan, Jack Curtis, Martin Crossley, Michael Duncan, Scott Carter, Simon Parker, Alison Meijers, Hannah Robertshaw, Polly Thisdell, Sara Moore, Stephanie Jong, Stephanie Potten and Xuan Liew.

The third team played in the highly competitive Division 3 South East league and after a number of closely fought matches, narrowly missed out on remaining in Division 3, so will be competing in Division 4 next season.

Third team players for the 2022-23 season: Ahmad Khalid Fansa, Alex Cloake, Chris Parker, Damien Dugmore, Luke Bennett, Oliver Norris, Sam Shepherd, Amber Ngo, Becky Donaldson, Jennifer Hewitt, Maheen Sattar, Polly Thisdell, Ruth Le-Fevre, Xuan Liew, Yolanda Xue and Yuki Lin.

A big thank you to all that represented Cambridgeshire this year, both old and new players! Another thank you to the team captains for their support this season: Campbell Wilson, Steph Jong, Simon Parker and Sam Shepherd.

Bring on the 2023-24 season!