Cambs Junior Fun Tournament 14 November 2015

CRC was full of U11, U13 and U15 junior badminton players on Saturday for the Cambridgeshire Fun Tournament, held by Cambridgeshire Badminton Association with the generous support of Cambridgeshire Schools Badminton Association.

Congratulations to everyone who played, as there were many close games which were all played in excellent spirits.

The winners were:

U11

Boys Singles: Adam Wang (RU Achira Waduge) / Girls Singles: Carys Leung (RU Phoebe Meikle)

U13

Boys singles: Wing Lun Lim (RU Manula Dharmawardana) / Girls singles: Ruby Spencer (RU Olivia Chan)

U15

Boys singles: Cameron Foo (RU Harry Zhao) / Girls singles: Sophia Abbott (RU Rachel Owen)

U11

Boys doubles: Adam Wang & Achira Waduge (RU Zai & Oliver Winfield)/ Girls doubles: Sophie Biers & Carys Leung (RU Jasmine & Phoebe)

U13

Boys doubles: Wing Lun Lim & Lewis Edmund (RU Zichen He & Manula Dharmawardana)/ Girls doubles: Sophie Biers & Carys Leung (RU Jasmine & Pheobe Meikle)

U15

Boys doubles: Cameron Foo & Harry Zhao (RU Wing Lun Lim & Alec Davis) / Girls doubles: Rachel Owen & Alice Bates (RU Claudia Bazyk & Olivia Chan)

All the results sheets are available in the Gallery section.

Cambridgeshire Junior Fun Tournament 14 November

Now open for entries is the Cambridgeshire Junior Fun Tournament to be held on 14th November at Cambridge Regional College 10am-2pm.

There will be U11/U13/U15 age categories. For more information and an entry form, see the tournaments page.

Cambridgeshire Juniors Meet Travelling Chinese Squad

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On 6th and 7th August, seventeen of the County's junior badminton players met with a travelling contingent of Chinese players, lead by one of the world's top coaches Qinghua Song.

The visit, organised by the Chinese Students & Scholar Association in Cambridge (CSSA) in conjunction with Daniel Bates, a junior coach based in Cambridge, comprised a fun play session on Thursday afternoon, followed by competitive matches on Friday evening.

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Coach Song is a former coach of the Chinese National badminton team, having coached the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Ladies Singles badminton champion Zhang Ning and also the 2008 Olympic champions Du Jing and Yu Lang.  Now coaching at a Beijing club, she was accompanied by sixteen of her junior players and coaches on a week's visit to Cambridgeshire to form new badminton relationships, share her experience, and to facilitate competition between players from China and Cambridgeshire.

The local players aged 12-16 and coming from clubs in Cambridge, Littleport and Little Shelford enjoyed playing with and learning from the Chinese squad.  The standard was obviously high, and there were many strong and exciting games.  The competition evening also saw members of the Cambridge University Badminton Club in attendance.

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All players of both teams were awarded certificates signed by Ken Verney (President of Cambridgeshire Badminton Association) and Gan Xu (Sports Director of the Chinese Students & Scholar Association in Cambridge) as well as custom medals to recognise their efforts in the exchange programme, and the British players were given gifts of cards bearing the signature of Lin Dan, the Chinese Olympic and World gold medallist.

Cambridgeshire coach and England Masters player Daniel Bates said: "We are very grateful to Coach Song and her players for visiting Cambridgeshire and spending their time with us.  All the players involved have had a really great time playing together and learning so much from each other".

While in Cambridge, the Chinese players also enjoyed spending time touring the City, and also spent a day in London.

Cambs Enters Three U15 Teams

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Cambs U15 Teams

Six of Cambridgeshire's junior players travelled to UEA Norwich today to compete in the annual Eastern Region Single Sex tournament.

The tournament brought together teams from many surrounding counties, and had entries in U13, U15 and U17 categories.  Teams comprised of two players, who each played a singles and a doubles together in a match.

Cambridgeshire's entries were all in the U15 category, although many players were younger.  In the Boys' competition, Cameron Foo and Peter Du started slowly again a strong Norfolk A team. Having settled into their game, they went on to win comfortably against Bedfordshire B, followed by a nailbiting match against Herts B - winning 21-16, 21-18, 21-20.

That led them to a 3/4 place play-off against Suffolk, which was another extremely hard-fought match.  Although the final score was a 3-0 loss, Cameron and Peter could hold their heads high after fighting bravely, and scoring 19-21, 20-21, 17-21.

In the girls' competition, Sophia Abbott and Ghazal Seidi played as Cambs A, while Alice Bates and Rachel Owen played as Cambs B.

Both pairs had excellent group matches, with the girls fighting hard but also enjoying their games.  Sophie and Ghazal won through to the 5/6 play-off, which they won confidently against Hertfordshire B 21-18, 21-12, 21-8.

Alice and Rachel entered the 7/8 play-off, against Suffolk B.  Rachel's confidence grew as she won her singles 21-15, but in a point-for-point doubles with Alice, Cambs lost 18-21.  That left the match and final position riding on Alice's singles, which went neck and neck to the changeover, but then she picked up the pace and won 21-14.

The entire tournament was played in excellent spirits, and all the Cambs players had a fun time.  Many thanks to the parents who helped out on the day: Paul Abbott, and David and Roxane Owen.

Harry Zhao Enjoys Cambridgeshire U19 Restricted Victories

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Harry Zhao: U19 Singles Winner

Whilst a sad lack of entries in the girls event meant the competition was not played, there were a healthy crop of boys contesting the Cambridgeshire U19 Restricted at Burwell Sports Centre this afternoon.

Split into two round-robin groups, Group B was won by Jordan Huynh with a 100% success rate, and the runner up Cameron Foo only lost to Jordan (21-15). Group A turned into an extremely close competition: while Harry Zhao came top by winning all his matches, it transpired that Jacob Oberholzer and Jake Alsop ended the competition on identical points scores.  This resulted in Jake going through on the head-to-head result (21-16).

In the semi-finals, Jordan slipped into top gear and beat Jake 21-8, while Harry beat his doubles partner Cameron 21-14.

In the final it was Harry who seemed to have the energy and consistency to take the match, seizing runs of points throughout the match and eventually winning 21-13.

Moving onto the doubles, after a round-robin group of five pairs, it was Harry and Cameron on top with a 100% win record who faced the scratch pairing of Jacob Oberholzer and Jake Alsop.

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Cameron Foo and Harry Zhao: U19 Doubles Winners

The final was a gripping, and startling contrasting game of two ends.  Jacob and Jake shocked Harry, Cameron and the onlooking crowd by storming out to a 11-3 lead at the changeover.  However, with careful serving and using their experience and consistency, Harry and Cameron fought back, putting together an impressive run of 14 points to reach 17-11, and eventually win 21-12.

Congratulations to Harry, Cameron, and all the other boys who played the competition.  There were some excellent games, and the competition was played out in good spirits all around.

For more pictures, including the scoresheets, please see the gallery pages.

FORZA Futures Junior 1* Badminton Tournament: Cambourne

Boys and girls’ singles and doubles in age groups: Yrs 5/6, Yr 7, Yrs 8/9 and Yrs 10/11

The Cambs Badminton Academy, in association with Forza, is holding a tournament aimed at school level badminton players. This tournament is aimed at players who are yet to represent their county and have limited experience of competitive play.

Tournament Details:

Date: 19th April, 2015, start time: 12pm, finish time: approximately 6.30pm

Venue: Cambourne Village College, Sheepfold Lane, Cambourne, Cambridgeshire, CB23 3PH.

Tournament Secretary: Helen Critchell, email here, Tel: 0774 898 4536

Forza Futures 1* Entry Form

Why take part?

Badminton Junior Tournaments offer a fun environment that will give children the opportunity to experience competitive play without the worry of meeting County/England level players. These tournaments will allow players to represent their school/club and for the winners of the competition to go forward to a National Final on Saturday 13th June 2015.

For more information, please take a look at the Cambs Academy website.

New Junior Opportunities at Burwell Smashers

A new junior badminton club aimed at children aged 5-11 will be launching in Burwell in the new year.

Held at the Burwell Community Sports Centre, and run by Badminton England Qualified coach Paul Martell, Burwell Smashers will give children in the Burwell and surrounding villages the chance to get a taste for the sport, or to develop their skills further.

The sessions are weekly on Tuesdays, from 5-5:55pm in term time, and begin on 6 January 2015.

For more information and a booking form, please visit the BCSC website.

Parents or children looking for other coaching opportunities around Cambridgeshire should refer to the map and lists on the Juniors Page.