November 13, 2023
Buckinghamshire top the Senior County Championships Premiership table after the first week of action at the National Badminton Centre.
The south-east county were the only one to emerge the weekend unscathed, winning all three ties to amass 25 points.
Reigning champions Middlesex sit in second place, with second to 10th place separated by only eight points after the opening round.
Buckinghamshire began the weekend with an 8-3 win over Leinster, fighting back from a match down to win four rubbers in a row.
They clinched the overall win when Lisa Curtin and Lara Molloy defeated Siofra Flynn and Chloe McGrane 21-13 21-11 in the eighth match of the tie.
Buckinghamshire were dominant against Hampshire, who had started the weekend with an 8-3 win over Warwickshire, as they triumphed 10-1 on Saturday afternoon.
Ting Yu Goh and Samuel Jones got Hampshire’s only win of the tie, with all 10 of Buckinghamshire’s players registering at least one win.
Estelle Van Leeuwen of Buckinghamshire ended the weekend as the most successful female player, winning all six of her rubbers and only dropping one game.
👏 A celebration of county badminton🙌🏸 New champions crowned and first time competitors at the SCC Champion of Champions tournament last weekend. Read more here https://t.co/40aGP6qeLM#badminton #badmintonengland #countychampionships
— Badminton England (@BadmintonEnglnd) November 7, 2023
Middlesex’s Dinuka Karunaratne was the most successful player at the NBC, winning eight of his nine ties, his only defeat came to Surrey’s Toby Penty.
Penty defeated Karunaratne 21-16 21-14 to kick off a hotly-contested local derby, with Surrey taking a 4-0 lead before the defending champions hit back to close the gap to one.
Penty and Abigail Holden clinched the tie-winning match 21-8 21-10 as Surrey triumphed 6-5 for their second win of the weekend and to inflict Middlesex’s first defeat.
Leinster were the only team not to win a tie in Milton Keynes, but still amassed 11 points from matches won against Yorkshire, Avon and Buckinghamshire.
This was the first weekend using the new format which saw two Open Singles, two Women’s Singles, two Open Doubles, two Women’s Doubles and three Mixed Doubles rubbers played.
Across the country, 110 teams were involved with 1092 players nominated and thanks goes to county secretaries, managers and captains for their work organising the competitions.
The next round of Premiership fixtures takes place at the National Badminton Centre on the 20 and 21 January 2024.
You can find all of the Premiership results here.
