News

Welcome to the Cambridgeshire Badminton Association (Cambs BA), a County association affiliated to Badminton England.

Cambridgeshire Badminton Association is dedicated to the development and promotion of badminton throughout the whole of Cambridgeshire.  The county consists of around 30 affiliated clubs as well as hosting Junior, Senior and Masters teams playing in the Inter-County Championships.

This web site is designed to enable Cambridgeshire Badminton Association to promote badminton through providing news and information on local, County and national badminton. Please visit this web site regularly to keep abreast of all the latest developments.

County AGM 18 May 2017

Ruby Spencer

Many congratulations to Ruby Spencer, who was awarded the Eric Raynor Trophy at the County AGM last night.

The Eric Rayner trophy is awarded to the Cambridgeshire junior player who has made a significant contribution to badminton during the season by demonstrating commitment, enthusiasm and commendable behaviour on court.

Ruby was nominated by her coaches for her excellent progress this year, and especially for the spirit and attitude to training and playing she has displayed.  She has been a dedicated player for the County U16 team, and participant in squad practice sessions. Her nomination was supported by several coaches and other adults who have managed, coached or played with her over the year, who praised her exceptional approach.

The trophy was again awarded twice this year, with a second award being made to Katrina Dunsire.  Katrina was nominated by her coach for her hard work with the Cambridgeshire Schools Badminton Association, for her commitment to training and also helping with junior training at St Neots, and for her progress as a ladies and mixed player at Swavesy.  Katrina was described as an excellent role model.

Unfortunately, Katrina couldn't attend the meeting to receive the trophy.

Photographs from the meeting are available in the gallery.

 

Cambridgeshire U20 and U16 Restricted Tournaments

Junior badminton in Cambridgeshire descended on Burwell again for two weekends in March, where the U20 and U16 Restricted Tournaments were held.

Open to all juniors resident in the County, the Restricted Tournaments are the annual events held by each County to allow juniors players to compete for the title of County Champion.

On 12 March, the U20 tournament saw the following results:

Boys Singles

Final: Leo Huang v Cameron Foo.  Winner: Leo Huang

Girls Singles

Group matches, with deciding game being between Sophia Abbott v Chanumi Gamage.  Winner: Chanumi Gamage

Boys Doubles

Group matches, with deciding game being between Cameron Foo & Harry Zhao v Leo Huang & Alex Yang.  Winner: Cameron Foo & Harry Zhao

Girls Doubles

Final: Chanumi Gamage & Sophia Abbott v Olivia Chan & Charity Pickup.  Winner: Chanumi Gamage & Sophia Abbott

The following weekend, the U16 tournament was decided as follows:

Boys Singles

Final: Achira Waduge v Sitan Zhan.  Winner: Achira Waduge

Girls Singles

Group matches, with deciding game being between Olivia Chan v Ruby Spencer.  Winner: Olivia Chan

Boys Doubles

Group matches, with deciding game being between Manula Dharmawardana & Achira Waduge v Sebastian Abbott & Zichen He.  Winner: Manula Dharmawardana & Achira Waduge

Girls Doubles

Final: Claudia Bazyk & Robyn Watson v Olivia Chan & Ruby Spencer.  Winner: Olivia Chan & Ruby Spencer

Full results are available on Tournament Software:

Photographs of the winners being presented their trophies are also available on the Gallery page.

Congratulations to everyone who participated in an event which was lots of fun, and saw some excellent games.  Many thanks to the volunteers who helped the events go smoothly, and especially to Tournament Secretary Neil Place.

Ken Verney

It is with great sadness that we learned of the death last Wednesday of Cambridgeshire Badminton stalwart Ken Verney.

Ken was President of the Cambridgeshire Badminton Association, having been involved for many decades, and was a familiar presence at County senior and junior events before his failing health prevented him from attending.

Ken and Jocelyn with the ICT squad in 2012

Ken lead the County with a passion for the sport and the players, and was a constant inspiration for those involved.  With his wife Jocelyn, he was still accompanying the junior squad to ICT in Nottingham right up until the last time Cambridgeshire were represented in 2012.  His dedication was unparalleled.

There will be a crematorium service for the committal on Thursday 6 April at 1.30pm:

West Chapel, Cambridge City Crematorium, Huntingdon Road, Cambridge, CB3 0JJ

This will be followed by a memorial service to celebrate his life at 2.30pm:

St Peter’s Church, School Lane, Barton, CB23 7BE

Limited parking is available at the Church. However, there is further parking at the Recreation Ground on the High Street (opposite Mailes Close) and from 2pm at the White Horse Inn.

Afterwards all are welcome to join family and friends at:

The White Horse Inn, 118 High Street, Barton, Cambridge, CB23 7BG

Family flowers only. Donations in memory of Ken are being received for St Peter’s Church Barton, Cancer Research UK and The Royal British Legion. Donations can be made on the day (when gift aid envelopes will be available) or sent to Willingham Funeral Services, 14 Berrycroft, Willingham, Cambridge CB24 9JX.

Aspire Badminton Club launching in Cambridge

Great news: there is a new badminton club in Cambridge!  

The Aspire Badminton Club will be kicking off at Netherhall Sports Centre on 3rd February 2017, and run from 6-10pm.  There are a couple of hours of junior coaching earlier in the evening, and then an adult club 8-10pm.

The club is a friendly, inclusive club, which can also support players who are deaf/hard of hearing, or have any kind of disability, visual impairment, learning difficulty, special needs or autism.

For more information, see their website at www.aspire2.club

First junior squad practice session for 2016-17

There was an excellent turnout for Cambridgeshire Badminton's first junior squad practice session of the season, with 17 young people playing for three hours at Burwell. This regular monthly session links coaches and senior County team members with their junior counterparts, and the children get rigorous singles, level and mixed doubles practice.

The session today at Burwell was very busy, and full of effort and laughter! Many thanks to Daniel Bates, James Wilson and Simon Parker for supervising and advising the players.

Squad practice sessions are invitation-only. However, the sessions do also provide an opportunity for players who are new to the County, who haven't been involved previously, or who have improved, to demonstrate their ability and be considered for the junior County teams. If you are a coach or a parent and you believe you have a child who is strong enough to compete, please contact badminton@bates.net to arrange for them to come to a session.

Restricted start times

All the best to everyone playing the County Restricted this weekend! See you at Swavesey Village College at 9am tomorrow for the singles, 9am on Sunday for the mixed, or if you're only playing levels, 12 for on court at 12.30 on Sunday.

Results will be on Tournament Software (https://be.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/draws.aspx?id=2D0A3BAF-DE74-454D-A61F-44C69304B627) and if Committee Members aren't too sweaty, updates will appear on the Cambs Badminton Facebook page!