Cambridgeshire Silver President's Preview

Cambridgeshire Badminton President Ken Verney previews the Cambridgeshire Senior Silver Badminton Open Tournament which starts this evening:

The Cambridgeshire Senior Tournament in the Badminton England Silver Circuit will be held at the Cambridge Regional College Sports Hall on Friday and Saturday 25 and 26 January.  Over 100 players will be competing over the two days.

The men's singles is the first event commencing at 6pm on Friday.  Richard Wrigley (Worcestershire) will be defending the title he won last year.  He is top seed and is scheduled to meet Chris Gilbert (Middlesex) in the final.  This would be a repeat of last year's final.  Cambridgeshire interest will center on the performance of County player Mindaugas Dabasinskas, and the promising 16 year-old Kaylan Sutton-Ziaian.  Also the other youngster 17 year-old Thomas Li, who has already established himself as a regular member of the Cambridgeshire County Ist Team.

Play on Saturday commences at 9am with the Women's singles.  Toni Blake (Bucks) the present holder is top seed.

The men's doubles has all the signs of being a very open contest.  The Cambridgshire pair of Neil Place and Simon Woodhouse could well feature in the closing stages.  The holders Dean George and Chris Tonks will not be defending their title.

Last year Claire Millward took the women's doubles title with Kelly Holdway.  This year she is partnered by fellow Warwickshire player Catherine Grant and they are top seeds.  In the final, they could well meet the Bucks pair of Toni Blake and Bethany Jeffs, last year's losing finalists.

Out of the 20 pairs in the mixed doubles there are five Cambridgeshire pairs with all the County Ist Team players featuring.  The top seeds are James and Bernie Babbington of Yorkshire, who lost in the final last year.  Their strongest opposition could come from Dean George (Sussex) and Claire Millward who went out in the semi-final last year.

Spectators are welcome and there is no admission charge.

Cambs Senior Silver This Weekend

Don't forget that CRC (Cambridge Regional College) on King's Hedges Road plays host this weekend to the Cambridgeshire Senior Silver Badminton Open Tournament.

Play starts at the following times:

• Men’s Singles Friday @ 6:00pm
• Women’s Singles Saturday @ 9:30am
• Mixed Doubles Saturday @ 11:00am
• Men’s & Women’s Doubles Saturday @ 2:00pm

Spectators are welcome, so if you want to see some top quality national badminton players, come along!

You can keep track of the draw at http://bit.ly/csilver

All the best to everyone representing the County this weekend!

View fullsize

Entries for U19 Restricted Open

The entry form for the Cambs U19 Junior Restricted Tournament to be held at Burwell on Sunday 17th March is now available to view, print or download from the Tournaments / Entry Forms section.

All the best to all the players entering!

Playing for Laughs - Masters O50s at Coventry

This year, the Over 50s played their annual Masters ICC weekend on 12th/13th January at Coventry Sports Centre, the same venue as the Over 40s, which made a welcome change as we were able to support each other. 

Our team for this year was Angela Sharman, Di Baker, Xin Cheng, Helen Taylor (making her County Over 50s debut), Martin Smith, Martyn Clark, John Harvey, and John Pickering, and we were pleased to note that there was only one knee support in evidence among us, unlike our younger colleagues who appeared to be sponsored by Neoprene Ltd!

Our first match kicked off at 11.30 against Derbyshire, unfortunately the late start time was the only leisurely aspect of it. Derbyshire won the match 3-1, beating Angela and Di in the ladies doubles, Martin and Martyn in mens doubles, and Helen and John P in the 1st mixed. Well done to Xin and John H, who took a very close 2nd mixed 21-19, 23-21.

Next up were Leicestershire, and we showed remarkable consistency by again winning the 2nd mixed and nothing else, This time the honours went to Di and Martyn, while the losing pairs were Helen/Xin, JP/JH, and Angela/Martin.

We finished Day 1 with our match against Cumbria, this time being on the wrong end of a 4-0 defeat. Despite that scoreline, the individual games were the closest of the day, with our losing game scores being 18, 12, 16, 17, 19, 19, 17 and 20. Pairs were Di/Angela, Martyn/JH, Helen/JP, and Xin/Martin.

And so we retired to the hotel for the evening's dinner and disco. All the tables had a plentiful supply of party poppers, balloons, and pea shooters with polystyrene ball ammunition, so everyone could target whichever opponents (or indeed, team mates) they wanted to. Shot of the night was by Over 40s captain Nick Pratt, who managed to land his long distance shot straight into JP's shirt pocket. After that came the disco, our team showing their younger counterparts the way forward by taking to the dance floor early and staying there for the duration, leaving the 40s to relax in the bar area.

Day 2 got off to a dismal, frosty and foggy start - or so our Over 40s colleagues told us later, our first game of the day being at 12.00 so it was bright and sunny by the time we surfaced. First up was Nottinghamshire, who again consigned us to a 4-0 defeat, our pairings were Helen/Xin, JP/Martin, Martyn/Di, and JH/Angela.

Our final match of the day was against Shropshire, and turned out to be our most enjoyable game of the weekend. Alright, we still lost 3-1, but we had some really competitive close games, so much so that we overran our time slot. Kings of the castle this time were Martin and Di, while the dirty rascals were Angela/Helen, JP/Martyn, and JH/Xin.

So, our final result for the weekend was: Played - 5, Lost - 5, Laughs - well into the 100s, and a brilliant debut by Helen, who fitted straight in like she'd been with us for years and not just 2 days. Player of the weekend, on results achieved, was Di, with 2 victories in Mixed games.

Match report by John Pickering.

Cambs II Repeat 8-7 Leicestershire Win

Cambs IInd team faced the return match against the Leicestershire IIIrd team on Sunday 13th January at CRC, in another tiffin-fuelled nailbiter.

Starting with the singles, the match followed the identical pattern of the away leg, with Paul Heads and Stephen Pickering picking up the mens singles, while Katie Morton and Laurel Bennett struggled to apply pressure against a much-changed Leicestershire side.

Going into the levels, Paul and James Wilson continued to develop the understanding in their partnership, winning in straight sets.  However, it was a shock to see the new pairing of captain Daniel Bates and Stephen Pickering beaten in two ends despite a late rally, victims of poor touch and consistency.  Thankfully, the ladies had more success this time, with Katie and Jessica Sharman combining well to win their game, although Laurel and Louise Tarbit (struggling with a ill-advised netball injury) lost in straight sets.

The second round of doubles followed exactly the same path.  James and Paul kept their heads(!) to win despite losing the first end, Daniel and Stephen failed to capitalise on a mid-game turnaround, Katie and Jessica stayed strong to win another three-end marathon, and Laurel and Louise found the final winning handful of points difficult to grasp.

That left the match absolutely in the balance, 6-6 going into the dramatic final mixed round.  Paul and Katie had established a strong lead in their first game, but half-way through the second the Leicestershire player suffered a debilitating attack of cramp, and eventually had to withdraw.  In second berth, James and Louise struggled to find their consistency, and lost the first end quickly.  Despite ratcheting up their effort levels, they also lost the second end, albeit to 19.

That left the entire hushed hall, watching rapt as Daniel and Jessica went into their third end.  Having lost the first end closely to 19, they had upped their pace in the second and won comfortably to 15.  They established a good lead, and then finally, with Jessica serving in an atmosphere where you could hear a pin drop, they closed out the game, and the match.  

Once again, it had ended 8-7 to Cambridgeshire.  Cue exhausted smiles, and a completion of the remaining tiffin rations.

Voting for Player of the Match (MVP) was completed by early evening - a record - and was awarded to Jessica for her all-round performance and cool head in the final reckoning.

An oddly laid-out fixture list now sees the IInd team face Staffordshire again, before two double-headers against Northants and then Ulster.

The team: Daniel Bates (c), Katie Morton: Hurst Badminton Club /  Paul Heads, Louise Tarbit, James Wilson: Ely Victoria Badminton Club / Jessica Sharman: Court Badminton Club / Stephen Pickering, Laurel Bennett

More information about results of the Cambs II team is available on the Team Page.

U13s and U17s Run Out of Time

Unfortunately, the U13 and U17 double-header at St Neots today ran over time after Norfolk arrived late, resulting in some games not being played.

The U13 battled well, but were 6-12 down to Norfolk when the clock stopped play with two remaining games (which were unfortunately apparently looking good for Cambs!).

The U17 team fared better, and were 9-8 at the end, with three games undecided.  The result will need to go to a steward's enquiry!

Sutton-Ziaian Takes U17 Silver Title

Kaylan Sutton-Ziaian took the Kent U17 Silver Circuit Tournament by storm on Saturday.  After grinding out a win in his group with two three-enders, Kaylan really his his stride.  He beat three other players in comfortable straight-sets victories, before beating Dorset's Michael Higbee in the final 15-7, 15-7.

Congratulations go out to Zaylan for such an impressive result.

For the entire draw, see Tournament Software.

View fullsize

Kaylan Sutton-Ziaian Triumphs in Kent