News

Welcome to the Cambridgeshire Badminton Association (Cambs BA), a County association affiliated to Badminton England.

Cambridgeshire Badminton Association is dedicated to the development and promotion of badminton throughout the whole of Cambridgeshire.  The county consists of around 30 affiliated clubs as well as hosting Junior, Senior and Masters teams playing in the Inter-County Championships.

This web site is designed to enable Cambridgeshire Badminton Association to promote badminton through providing news and information on local, County and national badminton. Please visit this web site regularly to keep abreast of all the latest developments.

County Selection 2012-2013

As always, County selection has been a very long and difficult process, with many players making strong cases for their inclusion.  Please appreciate that the Selection Committee apply a considerable amount of thought to the decision, and that there are only a very limited number of places we can offer.  We have tried to be as objective and fair as we can in applying the following selection criteria:

  • Results at the restricted tournament;
  • Results at other tournaments over the last twelve months;
  • County performance from the previous season;
  • Potential for improvement / Development trajectory;
  • Availability;
  • Commitment to the County;

For anyone who is disappointed at not making a team, it is worth noting that in previous seasons there have been more than enough times when players have been required to play up to support higher teams. It is likely that everyone will get their chance to shine at some point.

This season we are submitting three teams: Ist team (Division 3 Central), IInd team (Division 5 Central) and IIIrd team (Division 6 East).  More details are available in the 'Senior County Squads' sections.

The targets for this year are for the Ist team to obtain promotion back to what is now Division 2.  The IInd team have got a very strong challenge, to do well in their division which includes the Ulster team.  The IIIrd team excelled themselves to go through the playoffs last year, and we would hope that they might be able to do the same again this season!

The teams as selected are:

Ist Team

Ladies: Olga Bryant, Jen Hewitt, Sara Mason (c), Natalie Taylor

Men: Min Dabasinskas, Tom Li, Neil Place, Simon Woodhouse

IInd Team

Ladies: Laurel Bennett, Katie Morton, Jessica Sharman, Louise Tarbit

Men: Daniel Bates (c), Paul Heads, Stephen Pickering, James Wilson

IIIrd Team

Ladies: Sharon Chandler, Emma Brewster, Jacquie Dennis, Holly Gayle, Stacy Knoop

Men: Graham Barr, Geoff Green, Aiden Foo, Martin Harvey, Will Hodgkinson, Paul Martell, Kaylan Sutton-Ziaian, Tom Zhang

John Tibbutt (Non-playing Captain)

Squad

(These are players who might be available for selection from time to time, but are not nominated to specific teams)

Kevin Barron, Damien Dugmore, Owen Mugeridge, Joe Pickering, Sam Scharf, Abu Kaher

There is of course the possibility that other players from the County may be asked to play as and when options become available.

The first County match is for the IInd team on 14th October, with the Ist and IIIrd teams playing the week after on 21st October.  All three are home matches at CRC.

Have a great season, enjoy your games, and play well!

The Selection Team (Daniel, Neil, Sara and John)

Cambs Restricted Doubles Results

Sunday saw a long, exhausting, gritty day of tournament badminton, with the Cambs Seniors Players (Restricted) tournament stretching everyone involved to their limits.​

Mixed: Early in the competition, first seeds Olga Bryant and Mindaugas Dabasinskas signalled their intent​ with commanding wins over Tom Frearson/Alyson Savill and Paul Heads/Jacquie Dennis.  Third seeds Simon Woodhouse and Natalie Taylor also eased themselves into gear with straight-sets wins over Martyn Clark/Dianne Baker and Joe Pickering/Amanda Godfrey.  The other half of the draw was more surprising.  While fourth seeds Neil Place and Jen Hewitt booked their semi final slot early, the unseeded pair of Sam Scharf and Louise Tarbit were rampaging through the bottom of the table, defeating first Daniel Bates/Jess Sharman, and then overpowering second seeds Sara Mason/James Wilson.

​In the semi finals, the seeding finally caught up with Sam and Louise, and Min and Olga triumphed over Simon and Natalie.  Both games stretching to three ends.  In the final, Min's movement and Olga's control proved too much for Neil and Jen.  The first end slipped away 21-4, but they re-grouped and although losing the second end, had made the eventual victors work much harder for their 21-15 win.

​Mindaugas Dabasinskas and Olga Bryant: Mixed winners

In the mixed plate competition, the calm head of Sharon Chandler, and the power of Martin Harvey, proved too much for the rest of the competitors, and they won the final 21-18 against Martyn Clark and Dianne Baker.

Ladies Doubles​: With a relatively small draw, the ladies doubles competition was quite compact.  First seeds Sara Mason and Natalie Taylor cruised to the finals with two straight-sets victories over Emma Brewster/Angela Sharman, and then Katie Morton/Jess Sharman.  Second seeds Olga Bryant/Jen Hewitt took the same route, with similar wins over Dianne Baker/Stacy Knoop and Jacquie Dennis/Holly Gayle.

In the final, Sara and Natalie proved simply too powerful and consistent for the new pairing of Olga and Jen, and they won comfortably 21-11, 21-8.​

​Natalie Taylor and Sara Mason: Ladies doubles winners

​In the ladies plate competition, Louise Tarbit and Laurel Bennett defeated Alla Akselrod and Dan Tan 21-16.

Mens doubles: ​This saw a very strong draw, with the County welcoming a number of new or returning players this season, as well as many existing players having improved significantly.  Title holders Neil Place and Simon Woodhouse had an extremely long and arduous path to the final, which required them to grind out results against many strong pairs.  Nonetheless they survived nail-biting three-enders against Graham Barr/Will Hodgkinson, and again against Daniel Bates/Sam Scharf.

In the other half of the draw, new pairings Paul Heads/James Wilson and Tom Li/Mindaugas Dabasinskas were both working their way up the table, albeit with more comfortable victories.​  Once the seeds met, Min and Tom proved too powerful, and beat Paul and James 21-17, 21-15.

The final proved to be a superb testament to the days badminton.  Powerful and fast, all four players gave everything of themselves on the court.  In the end, Simon and Neil finally fell foul of the three-ender.  Having ​stretched every sinew to drive to victory 21-19 in the first, they then found Min and Tom too strong, and the younger pair eventually prevailed 21-11, 21-18.

​Mindaugas Dabasinskas and Tom Li: Mens doubles winners

In the mens doubles plate, there was the unusual occurrence of the final being played twice.  Last year's final was never played, so it was completed before the competition began!  In an extremely unusual turn of events, Joe and Stephen Pickering ended up winning the same title twice, as they triumphed in the 2011 final against Owen Green/Martin Harvey, and in the 2012 final against ​Tom Frearson/Geoff Green.

​Stephen and Joe Pickering: Mens doubles plate winners (both years)

The full results are available in the Tournaments section.​

Cambs Restricted Singles Results

​In the Ladies Singles competition, the limited entry resulted in Natalie Taylor and Olga Bryant competing the final at the very start of the day.  The game swung wildly, with Natalie taking a commanding first game, while Olga retorted in the second.  The third end was a nail-biter, with both players stretching themselves to complete long, powerful rallies.  It was only when the score reach 23-21 that a winner emerged, with Natalie holding her nerve to recover the championship.

​Natalie Taylor: Ladies singles winner

In the Mens Singles, by the semi-finals, the only upset to the seeding had been victory by Paul Heads over Stephen Pickering.  In the first semi, Joe Pickering took an early lead, but as Tom Li built up a head of steam, he won the second and third ends to go into the final.  Having survived a hard quarter, Paul certainly went into his semi against Mindaugas Dabasinskas ​warm.  Both players worked hard in a thrilling game, but Min edged the result in straight - albeit close - games.

In the final, Tom met doubles and training partner Min.  It was another good game, but with Tom suffering from cramp and Min easing into top gear, he eventually won comfortably.​​

​Mindaugas Dabasinskas: Mens singles winner

In the Mens Plate final, having won through a long plate draw, Owen Mugridge beat Kaylan Sutton-Ziaian to take the trophy.​

Owen Mugridge: Mens singles plate winner

Detailed results to follow.

Restricted Starts Today!

​The weekend of badminton kicks off at noon today with the Singles at CRC.  Even if you're not playing, why not come along and join us to have a great time supporting and watching Cambridgeshire's badminton community slogging their guts out on court?!

Don't forget too that the mixed starts at 9:30am tomorrow.  Again, if you're playing levels why not come early and contribute to the carnival atmosphere?​

Bryant Returns Home with Silver Medal

Cambridgeshire's Olga Bryant is returning home from the European Masters Badminton Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, with a hard-won silver medal, after competing in the final on Saturday.

In the final, Olga and her partner Tracy Hutchinson faced number one seeds and fellow England pair Tracy Middleton and Jo Muggeridge.  After a slow start, the middle game resulted in a 23-21 nail-biter, setting up a third-end decider which was won by Middleton/Muggeridge.​

On behalf of all at Cambs BA, congratulations to Olga, to all three of the other ladies, and to the whole England team which scooped an amazing haul of 58 medals - including 16 golds.  For more information, see the BE website.​  We're so proud of your achievement Olga!

​England take gold and Sofia in 2012 European Masters O40 Ladies.

Cambs U11/U13 Fun Tournament Results

The Cambridgeshire Badminton Association U11/U13 Fun Tournament was held this Sunday, 22nd September.  A great fun day of badminton was enjoyed by all the participants, and the results were:

Girls

Under 11

Doubles: Olivia Chan / Eloise Wakefield

Singles: Olivia Chan

Under 13

Doubles: Sophia Abbott / Hannah Lin

Singles: Chanumi Gamage

Boys

Under 11

Doubles Sabastian Abbott / Callum Stokes

Singles Callum Stokes

Under 13

Doubles: James Xu / Keir Lauder beat Alex Chan / Eugene Stokes

Singles: Eugene Stokes beat Harry Zhao 21/17

Many congratulations to all involved!​