20 April, 2024
Kendrick School claimed a double crown with victory in Key Stage 3 and 4 girl’s 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 girls winning gold.
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.
The final, sponsored by Babolat, is being held at the National Badminton Centre between the 20 and 21 April, with 32 teams competing over the weekend for the coveted titles.
Kendrick Key Stage 3 dominated the girl’s competition. Emily Hoh, Meghna Mahesh, Mudra Mayekar and Nikita Vadugu topped Group A with two 5-0 wins over RGS Newcastle and Soham Village College before taking down Pate’s Grammar School 4-1.
Through to the knockout stages, the side faced eventual bronze medallist King Edwards VI High School for Girls, losing only one doubles match and falling 21-15 to Anika Mundinamani and Anoushka Shetty.
The quartet them stormed their final against silver medallists Nonsuch School for Girls, taking the victory 5-0 to clinch the crown.
“We’re really happy to have won, everyone played really well and there was a really good team spirit,” they said.
“Everyone was really supportive of each other but thank you to the parents and the teachers for all the support they’ve given us.
“Each team played really well and it was a really nice tournament.”
The Key Stage 4 team started off with out and out victories against Hodgson Academy and Kesteven and Grantham Girls School.
Their only team loss of the day was to Tapton School, who soared to the top of the Group A standings from three wins from three but fell to Pate’s Grammar School in the knockouts to take third overall.
Avani Pandith narrowly fell to a 21-19 defeat to Tapton’s Shreya Urs before teaming up with Simone Panda for a 21-10 victory. But losses for Roma Gidde and Dhruva Nathella saw them finish the standings in second and progress to the knockouts.
Kendrick cruised through their semi-final against Colchester County High School for Girls 5-0 to set up a final battle.
And with a rousing 4-1 win over Pate’s Grammar School, the four teenagers sealed their National Schools title.
They said: “It was nice to have kids as the umpires and I thought that was a really good idea.
“We had a really good time as a team, just getting to play together was really nice and we had fun.”
