29 April, 2024
Shuttlers from across the country struck gold throughout April with highlights aplenty among England’s finest age-group, senior and county players.
England came out on top in the U15 Quadrangular against Ireland, Scotland and Wales at the National Badminton Centre while Glasgow & North Strathclyde and Surrey 2 secured Senior County Championships promotion from Division 1.
Leinster defended their Under-18 Inter-County Trophy title as the National Schools Championships impressed with the level of talent on display.
England on top in U15 Quadrangular
The National Badminton Centre hosted the annual U15 Quadrangular tournament between nations England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland.
Hosts England won day one’s team event as Scotland, Ireland and Wales followed in the standings. England overcame Wales and Ireland 9-0 each before taking a 7-2 win against Scotland.
The individual event followed over the course of the weekend, with England triumphing to win every gold medal of the tournament.
Yixiang Hou edged Scotland’s Alfie Martin in a boys’ singles thriller, coming from a game down to win 13-21 21-18 21-16.
Martha Ng was crowned the girls’ singles winner after beating Meghna Mahesh 21-18 21-12 in the final. Ng and Hou came together in the mixed doubles to beat fellow England talents Tejas Singh and Shraddha Gopalakrishnan.
The pair made it a hat-trick of golds when Ng joined Gopalakrishnan to make up a formidable pairing in the girls’ doubles while Hou teamed up with Oliver Wu to form a winning boys’ doubles duo.
Senior County Championships play-offs promotion secured
Glasgow & North Strathclyde and Surrey 2 triumphed in the Senior County Championships Division 1 play-offs to book their spots in next year’s Championship.
Alongside Suffolk 1 and Devon 1, Division 1 North and South’s collective top four teams battled it out over two days in a round-robin play-off at Babington College and English Martyrs Catholic School in Leicester.
Glasgow & North Strathclyde came out on top with 21 points while Surrey 2 punched their ticket to the Championship with 20 points, beating the Scottish side 6-5 in a tight bout.
Suffolk 1 fell on the other side of fine margins as they came close behind the promotion spots with 18 points while Devon 1 finished fourth with seven points after 9-2, 8-3 and 9-2 defeats across the weekend.
Leinster defend Under-18 Inter-County Trophy
Leinster successfully defended their Under-18 Inter-County Trophy as they beat out 28 other teams in Nottingham.
Berkshire claimed second place for just the second time in the history of the tournament as top seeds Yorkshire settled for bronze.
Teams compete in an initial round-robin stage over the first two days.
Counties then faced off against three other teams in a second group stage to sort people into evenly-matched finals groups which determined the overall standings with Leinster, Berkshire and Yorkshire joined by Kent in the top group.
On the final day in Nottingham at David Ross Sports Village, Leinster triumphed 6-4 against Yorkshire with women’s doubles pairing Laura Heery and Michelle Shochan taking the deciding victory in the penultimate match.
Winners and grinners at National Schools Championships
The National Schools Championships returned in 2024 for the first time in five years, with 700 teams entered across the four events, spanning 38 counties.
Kendrick School claimed a double crown with victory in Key Stage 3 and 4 girls’ competitions at the 2024 National Schools Championships.
The South Central team, based in Reading, took the spoils in both age categories on the opening day of competition, with all eight players winning gold.
In the boys’ competition Reading School and Wilson’s School soared to wins. Reading triumphed in the Key Stage 4 age group as Wilson’s took the spoils in Key Stage 3 to tie up a brilliant weekend at the National Badminton Centre, including a signed shirt session from Badminton England’s Annie Lado.
