England rounded off their entry in the 2024 BWF World Junior Mixed Team Championships by securing a fifteenth-place finish in the Nanchang-held Suhindanata Cup.
The seven-strong squad of Lucy Brierley, Jia Bin Lee, Benjamin Horseman, Jason Ou, Lila Dunas, Rajvi Parab and Matilda Franklin did enough to progress from the group stage after a second-placed finish behind Japan in Group G.
The 2024 BWF World Junior Mixed Team Championships was the first time the Team Event at World Juniors had been played in the new relay format to 110 points per match and England did not disappoint in their opening fixture against Latvia.
The team emphatically swept the Northern European side 110-47, with not a single member of the team dropping a game against their Latvian counterpart.
Up next was a clash with tournament contenders and eventual group-winners Japan, where England suffered their first defeat of the tournament 110-64 before making it back-to-back wins after dispatching Slovenia 110-105 and Uganda 110-54 in their final two group-stage fixtures to secure a top-two finish in Group G.
Having finished runners-up behind Japan in the group-stages, England’s next faced Thailand and lost out 110-84 despite their best efforts before defeat to Türkiye 110-71 ended any hopes of a top-13 finish.
The team’s final opponent was Estonia, and with fifteenth up for grabs, England narrowly defeated the Baltic side 110-108 to end their tournament in high spirits, with the seven-strong squad all the better for the experience.
Brierley and Lee were the only members of the team to have previously featured at the World Mixed Team Juniors but are now joined by Horseman, Ou, Dundas, Parab and Franklin as the team exits the competition.
Horseman accrued the most points out of his teammates, registering 1650 as he won 13 of the 28 matches in which he featured, with Brierley in second with 1011.
Lee, Dundas and Ou were the only members of the squad to end the competition with a winning record, with Lee winning nine of his 17 sets, Dundas seven of 11 and Ou 6 of 11.
Despite winning only 5 of her 14 sets Parab ended her campaign with a positive points total, cumulatively outscoring her opponents 567-403 over the course of her time in China