Cambs Trio Win England Selection for Ankara

May 23, 2013

Cambridgeshire players Daniel Bates, Olga Bryant and Neil Place have all been selected to represent England in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Senior Championships in Ankara, Turkey, in September.

Held every two years, the World Senior Championship is the pinnacle event in the badminton Masters tournament calendar, and the best players from every country have been invited to compete. Positions to represent England are highly sought after.

Olga has represented England before, travelling to Sofia in Bulgaria last year where she won a silver medal in the O40 ladies doubles. In Ankara, she will compete in the O40 ladies singles and doubles competitions.

Neil and Daniel have been selected for the first time, after coming runners up in the English National Masters Championships in December, and reaching the semi-finals of the All England Masters in April. The will be competing in the O35 mens doubles.

County AGM: 16th May 2013

April 26, 2013

The Annual General Meeting of Cambridgeshire Badminton Association will be held at Comberton Leisure Centre (Gallery Room), on Thursday 16th May 2013, at 7:30pm.

The following documents are available:

Hopefully as many members of Cambridgeshire Badminton will be able to attend - see you there!

Adult Beginners/Developers Course at Chesterton

April 16, 2013

Any players who want to start the sport, or develop their basic badminton skills (ideally up to a level where you might be able to participate in a club) might be interested in a new course which is starting at Chesterton Community College.

This course will run for 10 weeks from Monday 29th April (not including Bank Holidays) at 6:00-7:00pm, coached by Sandra Dennis.

CCC Sports Centre is at Gilbert Road, Cambridge, CB4 3NY. Anyone interested should phone 01223 576 110 for more details or to book a place.

Laurie Finch: Funeral Arrangements

April 9, 2013

Laurie Finch's funeral will be held on Monday 22nd April at 2:15pm, at St Peter's and St Paul's Church in Chatteris. An event will follow the funeral at the Conservative Club in Chatteris.

The family are happy for people to either bring flowers, or to make a donation to Macmillan Cancer Support at the Church.

Anyone who wishes to come will be warmly welcome.

Laurie Finch

April 6, 2013

After a brief battle with cancer, Head Coach of Cambridgeshire Schools Badminton Association (CSBA) Laurie Finch died peacefully in his sleep last night.

Laurie will be remembered by countless players in the County and beyond as a tireless advocate for the sport who has coached for nearly forty years and inspired several generations of players.

Cambs IIIrds Enjoy Norfolk Romp

March 27, 2013

Cambs IIIrds hosted the youthful Norfolk III at the weekend and were keen to get revenge for their 6-9 loss before Christmas. With the Ist team opponents Staffs cancelling due to the inclement weather, the teams could use all four courts for the match and the games flowed thick and fast. Alison Greenhill got the match off to a perfect start by bringing along a delicious pumpkin cake (like carrot cake, but with pumpkin...) and also won quickly at first singles. Sharon Chandler took one for the team in her least favourite event and despite coming close in the second set, lost in straight sets at second singles. Several days later Geoff Green and Graham Barr eventually won in 3 sets at first and second singles respectively against sprightly opposition. 3-1 to Cambs.

Geoff teamed up with Paul Martell at first mens and continued his theme of getting his money's worth by beating the Norfolk first pair in 3 sets. They settled down against the second pair and won quickly in straight sets. Graham and Tom Zhang (J) at second mens obviously wanted to get to the cake quickly and won both their mens games in straight sets.

Alison and Sharon at first ladies suffered a slight hiccup by losing the second set against the second Norfolk pair, but were otherwise untroubled winning both ladies. Dan Tan (Tanny) and Liz Salmon (who had answered the call to play late the night before) at second ladies followed suit, winning both in straight sets.

With the win, full points and revenge in the bag, the only thing left to play for was the race to get to the cake first. Or rather second, since jet lagged captain Tibbutt had very considerately decided to 'test' the cake and make sure it was ok for the team to eat. It was. I can't actually remember who won the race to the cake as all 3 mixed pairs won in straight sets, but the match ended with a fantastic 14-1 winning score and slighty runny icing everywhere.

The team: Geoff Green, Sharon Chandler: Comberton; Graham Barr, Alison Greenhill, Tom Zhang: Ramblers; Liz Salmon, Dan Tan: St Ives; Paul Martell: Hurst

Match report by John Tibbutt.

More information about results of the Cambs III team is available on the Team Page.

Cambridgeshire U19 Junior Restricted Tournament 2013

March 18, 2013

This years U19 restricted tournament was held at Burwell Sports Centre on 17th March.

All competition was initially played in a round robin format with winners and runners up going through to a knock out format for the final rounds.

Girls Competition

Singles winner - Lily Matthews

Runner up - Gemma McGuire

Doubles Winners - Lily Matthews and Gemma McGuire

Runners up - Angela Huang and Hannah Divall

Lily Matthews having lost to Gemma Mcguire in the round robin section of the tournament dug deep and changed her game to win the final 21-18.

In the Girls Doubles final Lily and Gemma put aside their rivalry from the singles and had a convincing win, beating Angela Huang and Hannah Divall 21-9, 21-12.

Boys Competition

Singles Winner - Tom Li

Runner Up - Kaylan Sutton-Ziaian

Doubles Winners - Tom Li and Josh Males

Runners up - Sunny Kong and Tom Zhang

The Boys Singles Final saw Kaylan Sutton-Ziaian, defender of the title, up against Tom Li. Kaylan had fought through a tough semi against Josh Males (25-23) and this may have taken it’s toll, Tom Li winning 21-19 in a hard fought and entertaining game.

In the Boys Doubles, the round robin format in the early stages of the competition saw some close games, particularly a win for Sunny Kong and Tom Zhang over the defending champions Aidan Foo and Kaylan Sutton-Ziaien of 21-20 (no setting in the round robin).

This result meant Aidan and Kaylan met the winners of the other group in the semifinals - Josh Males and Tom Li. The title holders lost this semi (8-21) Tom and Josh proceeding into the final.

The second semi-final was between Ashley James playing with Ximian Quah, and Sunny with Tom. This was good game but Sunny and Tom were the stronger winning 21-16.

The final saw Tom and Josh showing their experience and strength winning 21-14 to take the title.