It was a busy month for our junior players, who took part in some big competitions both at home and abroad.
The U19 and U17 Danish Cups were attended by a small group of players selected by Badminton England as part of the new England Junior Performance Programme structure launched in the summer.
There were also some notable results for our juniors in Slovenia and Ireland, while the All England Junior Championships took place in Birmingham earlier in the month.
There was also plenty of England Junior Performance Programme Camps and activities for the U11 to U15 age groups throughout August as well as a joint EJPP camp for the U17 and U19s.
Here is a round-up of August’s action…
U17/U19 Danish Junior Cup
James Song’s run to the final of the men’s U17 singles was the highlight of the action at Hvidovre as the sixth seed battled past Axel Boesen in the quarter finals before defeating EJPP team-mate Anish Nair in the semi-finals.
Song was then defeated by Denmark’s Elias Martin in the final, while he also suffered defeat in the mixed doubles semi-finals alongside Sofie Chong as they were beaten by Jens Andersson and Julie Sogaard.
Chong also reached the semi-finals of the women’s doubles with Rajvi Parab, who herself reached the quarter finals of the women’s singles, where Martha Ng and Aahna Bhatia fell at the round of 16.
In the U19 competition, among the best performers were Benjamin Horseman and Jia Bin Lee, who reached the quarter finals of the men’s doubles, and Jason Ou, who put up a brave fight against top seed William Bogebjerg in the quarter finals of the men’s singles.
Lucy Brierley and Matilda Franklin got as far as the round of 16 in the women’s doubles, while Franklin and Lee reached the same stage of the mixed doubles.
All England Junior Championships
There was glory for Sofie Chong and Lucy Dodd as they won the women’s doubles title in Birmingham by defeating top seeds Mysha Omer Khan and Taabia Khan of the UAE 22-20 15-21 21-16 in a thrilling match.
Chong and Dodd had beaten Carly Stevenson and Wales’ Saffron Morris 21-14 15-21 21-19 in the semi-finals while Shraddha Gopalakrishnan and Martha Ng were just unable to make it an all-English final in that competition.
Ng lost out to the USA’s Suneri Chinthalapati in the semi-finals of the women’s singles and Tranthini Kumaravel was beaten 21-16 21-19 by Mysha Omer Khan in the same tournament.
Dillon Chong was beaten alongside Zhi Lun Ong of Switzerland in the semi-finals of the men’s doubles while James Song was a beaten finalist in the mixed doubles alongside Poland’s Kaja Ziolkowska.
Benjamin Horseman and Jia Bin Lee reached the semi-finals of the men’s doubles and Bhatia was narrowly beaten in the quarter finals of the women’s singles 24-22 17-21 12-21 by Chinthalapati.
TEM Slovenia Mirna U17 International
It was success across the board for our juniors in Mirna with the winners of all five tournaments having a St George’s flag next to their name.
Jaxon Clarke came out on top in the men’s singles as he defeated Hungary’s Zeno Agai 21-14 21-19 in the final with team-mate Hubert Ceglinski reaching the third round.
In the women’s singles, Mili Patel saw off top seed Ana Pranic of Croatia 21-19 21-19 before she then doubled up in the women’s doubles alongside Anna Stewart as they beat Serbian top seeds Andrea Bogojevic and Teodora Latas 21-14 21-8.
There was more success for Clarke as he won the men’s doubles with Samuel Pulikkottil thanks to a handsome 21-13 21-8 win over Polish pair Jakub Dulemba and Maciej Smarz.
Clarke and Patel then made it a hat-trick of titles in one day as they won the mixed doubles by defeating Pulikkottil and Stewart 21-13 21-19 in what was an all-English final.
U19 Irish Open
Two English doubles pairings reached finals in Dublin, with Lucy Brierley and Matilda Franklin losing out 21-16 21-18 to Scottish top seeds Ishbel McCallister and Brooke Stalker.
Brierley then had to settled for runner-up again as she lost alongside Benjamin Horseman in the final of the mixed doubles 21-15 24-22 against Stalker and her partner, Lewis Coghill.
Horseman had earlier been beaten in an epic of a men’s doubles semi-final alongside Dillon Chong as they were edged out 29-30 21-15 21-19 by French pairing Martin Bellot and Ewen Peres.
Daniel Wykes in the men’s was the pick of the singles performers as he reached the quarter finals where he was beaten by Bellot 21-15 18-21 21-9.
England Junior Performance Programme Camps
Camps and activities were delivered to U11, U13 and U15 age groups with an EJPP Strength & Conditioning Coach in attendance to conduct fitness testing and jump testing and to lead warm-ups for sessions.
The U11 camp aimed to develop the juniors’ ability to neutralise a rally when under pressure, consistency in rallies while utilising all four corners of the court and an introduction to forecourt deception.
The U13 camp aimed to develop the juniors’ ability to introduce a faster pace and flatter style of singles gameplay, construct rallies and trying to develop pace changes, improve backhand containment from the rear court and doubles defence.
There was also a Working With Parents in Sport Workshop delivered to a large parent group with discussions focused on life skills, character development and how that links into the EJPP performance behaviours.
The U15 camp involved senior national squad coaching the use of netplay in singles with a focus on the spin net and improving the ability to spin off a spin net as well as the use of rotation and defending as a pair in doubles.
The U11 and U13 camps both delivered a singles tournament while the U15s also had an EJPP Wednesday Training Camp that looked to improve specific work areas of players for the Junior team competing at the U15 European championships.
This involved the use of senior sparrers, senior national team and U17 juniors to try and raise the intensity and quality of training and matchplay.
This served as a good training block before the U15 European Junior Championships to build relationships and methods of working.
EJPP U17 / U19 Joint Camp
Singles training review
Following on from some positive performances at the All England Junior, and in preparation for Danish Cup, the singles players worked on a variety of themes at the National Badminton Centre that from observations from the All England Junior, needed some focus or weren’t being shown in matches.
These included some speed changes during the rallies and anticipation in rallies in relation to the most likely reply from an opponent. Focus was also on turning the shuttle and trying to play more counterattack in defence.
The players were also able to train alongside and integrate at points within the Camp with the senior singles squad, which was a great exposure.
Doubles training review
At this camp at the National Badminton Centre, players had opportunities to practice working more to put shuttles back into court with high pressure attack, also integrating with the senior squad.
There was also a large focus on matchplay to help players prepare for upcoming tournaments, including the Danish Cup.
Other focuses for the players included key practices around the net and mid-court to encourage them to trade and engage more in these areas.
The objective was to see longer rallies when playing here with increased court coverage, making sure to have dynamic movement moving on to the shuttle and to play with margins appropriate for the situation.
Players were also challenged to link shots making sure that when looking to be early on the shuttle and inject pace, or look to attack, that they are then ready for the likely responses and not overcommitting in these situations.
