10 April 2024
Leinster 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.
The winning Leinster team were made up of Senan O’Rourke, Chloe Mcgrane, Aman Kothiyal, Laura Heery, Pranav Erukattil, Praneel Reddy Vallapureddy, Michelle Shochan, Nicole Joy, Orlaith Evans and Paddy Nolan.
The tournament at David Ross Sports Village in Nottingham saw teams compete in an initial round-robin stage over the first two days.
U18 ICT 2024 🤩🔥🏴🙌
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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.
Hosts Nottinghamshire, who were last year’s runners-up, finished in fifth to claim the English Schools Badminton Association (ESBA) trophy.
Leinster began the defence of their trophy with a 10-0 win over Devon, matching that scoreline against Surrey and Hertfordshire on day two
In the second group stage, Leinster again went undefeated, but this time lost their first rubber as Leicestershire’s George Claire and Katie Hoult triumphed in a decider in the opening mixed doubles rubber.
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Tougher tests came in the finals stage on day three as Leinster beat Berkshire 7-3 and Kent 10-0.
On the final day, against Yorkshire, they triumphed 6-4 with women’s doubles pairing Laura Heery and Michelle Shochan taking the deciding victory in the penultimate match.
Players reflected on how much they enjoyed the tournament with one Nottinghamshire player saying: “I like playing this tournament because it is a nice atmosphere, and everyone is really nice as are the coaches.”
Cheshire won all three of their final group-stage games to earn 26th place in Nottingham, one of their players said: “I like this event because it is a great experience to play against better players and see how other people play.”
Suffolk beat Worcestershire and Cornwall to finish in 27th place with one of their players saying: “I like playing ICT because it gets you all together and teamwork is important.”
With special thanks to our Official Equipment Supplier Babolat.
Photo courtesy of Alan Spink
