Local girls lift County badminton championship (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Local girls lift County badminton championship

FOR the first time in a number of years, the host county has the winners' names on the U12s Gloucestershire invitation doubles tournament trophy - renamed in memory of Kath Wood last year - in an event held at Stroud on Saturday, February 12.

It is a good sign for the future of Gloucestershire badminton as three out of five doubles pairs made it through to the semi-finals in a tournament that had attracted the top players from counties as far afield as Cheshire and Surrey.

Regular partners Laura Stratford, from Bourton-on-the-Water, and Tetbury's Megan Stancombe, easily won their group and then earnty a bye to the semi- finals.

Up against Duckett and Moody, from Hampshire, the local pair expected a tough game but, making fewer errors than their opponents and with good attacking play, they took the semi 21-15.

As expected, the final against the talented Claire Weaver and Brittany Ashton (Cheshire) was very close with the score creeping up very evenly.

Changing ends, Laura and Megan found themselves 11-9 down. Nonetheless, playing with their usual tenacity, the Gloucestershire girls pulled it back to take the lead.

And capitalising on their opponents' obvious nerves and an inability to score on their serve, they started to forge ahead.

In the end, they clinched the title 21-15, much to the delight of onlooking parents, coaches and team-mates.

Corinium Junior Badminton Club played an U12s league match against local rivals Stroud recently.

Despite some regular players missing the match, due to County commitments, Corinium ran out overwhelming victors.

Tom White, promoted to the number one spot, led the way by winning all of his singles matches and linking with his equally successful partner, David Foxley, to win all of their doubles games.

They were well supported by Tom Bainbridge and William Moss. Bainbridge won both of his singles games whilst Moss won one and lost one.

In the doubles, they performed equally well, only losing to pairs who were above them in the pairings to win the match 293-164. This was an excellent performance from a fast-improving team.

Of the 21 matches, they lost just three games and won 18! Corinium U12s are still in first place in the league although the main contenders Fibres and Falcons have matches to play.

The Intermediate team remains in second place and has the honour of being the only team to take a game against league giants Falcons.

In fact, Carrie Hughes was the only player for Corinium to get into double figures in the singles and ,pairing up with Josh Morrison managed to get the all-important win.

However, the players have formed into a good team this year and the spirit has been excellent.

Keeping a consistent team has improved them as a unit and all doubles partnerships have performed well.

Corinium U15s team: Chris Moy, Matthew Griffiths, Alex Benfield, Josh Morrison, James Sutton, Carrie Hughes, Laura Stratford, Simon Foxley.