European Championships 1200

3 October 2024

Golds across the continent were the story of September for Badminton England’s junior players.

Martha Ng and Shraddha Gopalakrishnan returned from the Under-15 European Championships having won gold in the women’s doubles, while a bronze was also won in Poland.

Slovenia, Croatia and Slovakia were the scenes of triumphs in Under-17 tournaments, while closer to home two collaboration days were held in Sevenoaks and Reading respectively.

Victor U19 Irish Open 2024 – 30 August-1 September

Lucy Brierley won two silvers at the Victor U19 Irish Open in Dublin in both the women’s and mixed doubles.

Brierley twice lost to Scottish opponents in the final, as she and Benjamin Horseman suffered a tight defeat to Lewis Coghill and Brooke Stalker, losing 21-15 24-22.

Only a short while later, Brierley was back in action in the women’s doubles, this time alongside Matilda Franklin, where they lost 21-16 21-18 to Ishbel McCallister and Stalker.

Find all of the results here.

TEM Slovenia Mirna U17 International 2024 – 30 August-1 September

England claimed all five golds in Mirna, Slovenia with Mili Patel and Jaxon Clarke gracing the top of the podium three times each.

The pair beat compatriots Samuel Deepak Pulikkottil and Anna Stewart in the mixed doubles final that closed out a stunning championships for the English shuttlers.

The day began with Clarke’s triumph over Zeno Agai in the men’s singles before Patel matched him by beating top seed Ana Pranic of Croatia in the women’s singles.

The men’s doubles title went to Clarke and Pulikkottil with Patel partnering Stewart for the women’s doubles gold before they became adversaries in the mixed doubles final.

See all the results here.

2024 European U15 Championships – 11-14 September

Sixth seeds Martha Ng and Shraddha Gopalakrishnan triumphed 22-20 21-14 to claim gold in the girls’ doubles at the U15 European Championships.

They beat Alva Jacobsen and Simone Aoki Pihl of Denmark in the final having come from behind in their opening match of the Championships in Suwalki, Poland.

Men’s singles sixth seed Yixiang Hou also returned with a medal having won bronze.

Hou lost only one game on his way to the semi-finals, where he lost to eventual champion Lenny Hubert of France.

Eight players travelled out to Poland with many picking up valuable international experience.

Read the full round-up here.

Li-Ning Zagreb U17 Open 2024 – 20-22 September

Samuel Deepak Pulikkottil triumphed on two fronts in Zagreb, Croatia winning men’s and mixed doubles gold.

Alongside Jaxon Clarke, he won the men’s doubles at the Li-Ning Zagreb U17 Open as they beat top seeds Zeno Agal and Balazs Peto of Hungary 21-15 21-17 in the final.

This came soon after Pullikkottil had defeated Clarke in a thrilling mixed doubles final, this time partnering Anna Stewart.

He and Stewart took a one-game lead against Clarke and Mili Patel before they levelled the tie to force a decider which the former won to triumph 22-20 12-21 21-14.

Patel and Clarke each feature in one other semi-finals, Patel partnering Anna Stewart in the doubles as they lost a decider to top seeds and home hopes Ana Pranic and Sara Sulc.

Clarke also competed on the singles front as he lost his semi-final having been a game ahead against Turkey’s Erdal Mert Demirhan, suffering a 10-21 21-13 21-17 defeat.

See all the results here.

Slovak Youth U17 2024 – 27-29 September

Anish Nair won men’s singles gold in Trencin, Slovakia without dropping a game at the Slovak Youth U17 championships.

Sixth seed Nair beat Jan Paulik of Czechia 21-5 21-12 in the final having earlier knocked out second seed and Paulik’s compatriot Petr Briza in the quarter-finals.

Hubert Ceglinski and Julian Kitchen reached the round of 16 of the men’s doubles before losing to Czechia’s Marek Kassa and Jakub Klokan 21-7 21-16.

See the full results here.

Collaboration Days – 21 and 22 September

Hildenborough BC and BJBA played host to two Collaboration Days in Kent and Reading respectively, with the on-court themes led by the players and coaches involved.

The EJPP Team’s Strength & Conditioning Coach Kathryn Canham was also in attendance and she presented a workshop to all coaches during the lunch break, introducing BE’s soon-to-be-available Badminton Activation/Warm Up Resource, which is hoped will be embedded across the network into weekly training.

Collaboration Day September Kathryn Canham 1200

This is one of a number of workshops that have been delivered by Canham so far on the S&C topic within Juniors.

The day included Canham delivering the BE Ready Warm-Up to all players at the start of both sessions, while there was also a workshop on S&C for all attending coaches, which included detail around why Badminton England are introducing this and its importance when discussing the physical side of the game/time available to train and overall reduction in injury risk.

The warm-up will be very familiar with players attending EJPP Camps as Canham leads these with players prior to all on-court sessions.

Badminton England are keen to engage with coaches across the network to embed knowledge of how to support the ongoing improvement of the physical aspect within the training week, without distracting from a player’s on-court training.

This resource will be released to the network as an article on the BE Ready document in the next couple of weeks and through our Coaching Membership newsletters and Hive.

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