15th April, 2025
England enjoyed resounding success at the YONEX All England Seniors Championships 2025 in Hatfield, which took place from April 11-13.
Caroline Hale and Christine Crossley led the way, winning three golds each after triumphing in every competition they entered.
In total, English players secured four titles in the women’s singles and one title in the open singles across nine age groups.
There was also plenty of reason to celebrate in the doubles with England taking a clean sweep of titles in the women’s doubles.
They added six titles in the mixed doubles and a further eight in the open doubles competition.
Singles
Dinuka Karunaratne took England’s only gold medal in the open singles as he triumphed in the over-35 category.
He defeated compatriot Ka Wai Ng 21-10 21-9 in the final to clinch the title in straight games.
In the women’s singles, England’s Mitsuyo Kondo took gold in the over-45 category, defeating fellow Brit Susan Godfrey 9-21 21-15 8-21 to clinch first place.
There were also victories for Caroline Hale and Christine Crossley in the over-65 and over-70 finals, respectively, to add to England’s gold haul.
Caroline Hale claimed the fourth gold in the women’s singles in an all-English final in the over-55 category, beating Jane Ashfold 23-21 21-13 to round off a successful first day of action.
Credit: Alan Spink
Women’s Doubles
The women’s doubles brought about an avalanche of English golds as Helen Calverley and Lucy Kidd took the over-35 title in a fiercely contested match against Irish pair Ruth Kilkenny and Jennie King.
The English duo took the match to 10-21 21-17 21-20 before their opponents retired to give victory to Calverley and Kidd.
Hale and Crossley bagged their second golds of the weekend with partners Elizabeth Austin and Jenny Cox in the over-55 and over-65 women’s doubles, respectively.
Hale and Austin triumphed over three sets in the final against Sara Foster and Godfrey to win 17-21 21-16 10-21.
At the same time, Cox and Crossley won an all-English final against Christina Davies and Andi Stretch 15-21 13-21 to add to a growing list of golds.
The over-40 and over-45 women’s doubles saw two English-dominated podiums.
Sarah Burgess and Joanna Dix took gold in the over-40 category, while Jenny Adrian and Tracy Parker claimed the crown in the over-45s.
Julie Bradbury helped England to complete their clean sweep as she partnered Dane Janne Vang Nielsen to take gold in the over-55s.
A thrilling over-60s final saw Sue Crompton and Viv Gillard clinch the title under tough competition from English pair Chris Summers and Karen Thomas.
Having narrowly lost the first game 23-21, Gillard and Crompton went on to edge the second two games 17-21 15-21 to take the spoils.
Betty Bartlett and Brenda Creasey took the over-70s title while Vicki Betts and Mary Jenner triumphed in the over-75s.
Mixed Doubles
Crossley and Hale rounded off their treble triumph in the mixed doubles as they both took three golds from a possible three.
Hale partnered Donald Burden in the over-55s as they triumphed comfortably in an all-English final against Justin Ashfield and Jane Andews 21-19 21-5.
Crossley found similar success with partner Ian Purton. They beat English pair Malcolm Grayson and Kim Stothard 7-21 6-21 to triumph in straight games.
Having finished second in the Open Singles, Paul Le Tocq claimed his gold in the mixed doubles with partner Joanna Dix, who raced to her second title of the weekend.
They beat English pair David Williams and Kelly Fairey 21-14 21-18 in the over-40s final.
Bartlett also took her second gold of the weekend with Peter Emptage as they came back from a set down to beat Ole Krogh Mortensen and Kath Spillane 17-21 21-12 21-11 in the over-70s final.
The golds in the over-60s and over-75 categories also fell into English hands. Karen Thomas and Alan Alexander took gold in the former while Robert Bell and Penny Shears claimed victory in the latter.
Credit: Alan Spink
Open Doubles
Ian Purton and Donald Burden picked up their second golds of the weekend in the Open Doubles in another successful showing for England.
Purton partnered John Molyneux in the over-65s competition where they met English duo John Machin and Sandy Taylor in the final.
A closely-fought encounter saw Purton and Molyneux triumph 21-12 22-24 21-19 to claim gold.
Burden shared his success with John Bowker in another all-English final in the over-60 category where they met Alan Alexander and Tony Dennis.
Burden and Bowker narrowly edged the second game to claim victory and the title 21-11 24-22.
Mark Law and Alex Marritt clinched gold in the over-40s, while in the over-45s it was Kenton Jones and Ben Peterson who claimed the title in another all-English affair.
In the over-50 category, James Anderson partnered Ian Pearson to claim gold against England duo Carl Jennings and Mark Arthur King.
Despite just missing out on the mixed doubles title, Justin Andrews claimed gold in the over-55 with partner Simon Gilhooly representing the only English pair on the podium.
They came back from a game down to beat Finland’s Jyri Alto and Mika Eriksson 21-14 11-21 19-21 in a thrilling encounter.
William Hamblett and Graham Holt were also the only English representatives on their podium as they clinched gold in the over-70 category, seeing off Bo Bertilson and Tariq Farooq in the final.
Rounding off the honours were over-75 gold medallists Mike Cox and Jim Garrett in an all-English final.
They beat Roy Bartlett and Edward Hayes 17-21 20-22 over two closely fought games to take the title.
