The Tournament is open to ALL players eligible and available to play for Avon BA

Dates – 29th/30th September and 1st October. Closing date Friday 15th September

Full details on entry form, click here to download

This year Avon were in charge of running the South West Juniors Tournament played at Christie Miller Sports Centre, Melksham over the weekend. The standard of badminton was impressive and, of the 78 players entered, 45 were from Avon, 16 from Devon, 10 from Wiltshire, 4 from Cornwall and 3 from Gloucester. Avon players came away with 3 Gold and 9 Silver Medals, an excellent performance which reflects the growing strength of the county.

In the U12 Boy’s singles a special mention for Avon’s Aarya Ramachandra who, despite finishing in 3rd place, had only lost one game in his group 21-20, and played a close semi-final, losing to the eventual winner Hayden Herkes from Devon, 21-18. Toby Pridmore was also a semi-finalist, only losing out to Devon’s Evan Dawson 21-19.

Under 12 Girls was dominated by Katie Ovenden from Wiltshire with Parathana Reddy doing well to finish runner-up.

U12 Boy’s doubles was also dominated by the two Devon boys with Toby Pridmore and Aarya Ramachandra pairing up finishing in a well-deserved Silver Medal position.

U12 Girls Doubles was closely fought with Parathana Reddy and Olivia Vince also finishing with silver but having taken the match against Kira Mullen and Katie Ovenden to 3, winning the first game to 19, but then losing 21-14, 21-14.

The U14 Boy’s singles was played in two large groups with both medals going to Devon players but Barney Pridmore did well to go through to a semi but lost to the eventual winner.

The U14 Girl’s singles was a much close competition. With three of the girls finishing equal on games and the decision being made by points for and against, Amy Mellersh and Susanna Ogden were in the mix but the winner was Riya Tarar from Wiltshire with Susanna clinching the second spot, having beaten Riya, and Amy having to settle for third place but having beaten Susanna.

U14 Boy’s Doubles once again saw the Devon Boys dominate with Barney Pridmore and Harvey Thompson taking the third spot.

Avon’s Amy Mellersh and Susanna Ogden combined for the U14 Girl’s doubles comfortably taking the gold medal, overcoming Riya Tararplaying with Katie Ovenden 21-8, 21-13, despite Amy having hurt her leg in the singles competition.

The U16 Boy’s singles had a large entry with Avon extremely well represented and taking all the spots in the semi-final. Alex Reid lost out 6-21 to Sam Weekes, and Ben Kemp losing out to Will Mullaney 21-18. Will had only narrowly lost to Sam 21-20 in their group and the final was another close contest with Sam taking the gold 21-18.

The U16 Boy’s doubles saw Sam Weekes and Ben Kemp join forces going through to the final unbeaten, as did the other finalists Ralph Ackroyd from Gloucester with Jacob Weekes. This was another closely fought final with Sam and Ben taking gold 21-16 and Jacob and partner going home with silver.

The U16 Girl’s singles was also a large entry and both Hannah Warren and Adelphia Evans made it through to quarter finals but unfortunately had to play against each other, Hannah was the winner of this match 21- 19 but was then matched, in the semi-final, against the eventual winner Cara Collins from Cornwall. Hannah Warren, paired with Isabel Mullen then went one better as they took the silver, with Devon’s Jennifer Lai and Grace Lee taking the gold.

The Boy’s U18 singles finished with Sam Weekes in third place and Will Mullaney in fourth, and the U18 Boy’s doubles saw Sam Weekes andBen Kemp finish with another medal this time silver behind a Devon / Cornwall pairing, and Donghao Wang, playing with Rob Hawkins from Wiltshire, finishing in third place.

Adelphia Evans and Hannah Warren also did well at U18 Girl’s doubles coming away with silver in another best of 3 match against the winners 14-21, 21-14, 15-21.

The sixth running of the Weston Handicap Tournament proved just as successful as the previous five, with 78 players taking part in three events totaling 119 games.

The morning session saw the men’s (11 pairs) and ladies’ (eight pairs) events with the afternoon seeing a huge mixed entry of 20 pairs.

The ladies event saw a full entry of eight pairs in a one-box format into main and plate semis and finals.

A hotly contested box saw many close games and the box winners on 147 were Nicola Wall and Abigail Kemp, followed by Jane Watson and Pai (139), Clara Fitzpatrick-Milton and Bethan Evans-Brain with (138).

The plate semi’s saw Aimee Morgan and Alice Morgan gain a walkover v Alice Lamb and Bridget Jones as Bridget sadly had to withdraw due to injury.

The other semi saw Eloise Radcliffe and Abby Radcliffe overcome Carrie Higgins and Katharine Robinson. This set up an all Feathers final with Aimee and Alice running out the plate winners.

In the main event, Bethan and Clara (-4) overpowered Jane and Pai (-2) 21-13 and in an absolute thriller, Emily Page-Symonds and Pippa Larkin (-6) defeated Nicola and Abi (-4) 21-20. This set up a grand final which Pippa and Emily triumphed 21-17.

In the men’s event consisting of 11 pairs, it was split into two boxes with the top two in each making main semi’s and third and fourth making the plate event.

In the plate, the semi-final make-up saw Rohan Weekes and James Sole (21) defeat Rhys Davies and Harry Gardner (17), before Gabs Hutchinson and David Tse overcame Matthew Ralph and Paul Gardner 21-16. The final saw Gabs and David run out 21-18 winners.

In the main event, unbeaten Box B winners Will Robinson and Mathew Jose beat Andrew Stewart and Raymond Tse in a thriller 21-20. The other semi saw Alex Lam and Steve Lewis defeat unbeaten Box A winners Sam Hedges and Tom Higgins 21-16. The final saw Alex and Steve (-2) run out winners 21-17 versus Will and Matt (-2).

The mixed event saw 20 pairs with four boxes of five. In the plate event, Antony Forster and Tracey Hooper beat Mathew Jose and Anna Bickell 21-19; Callum Grayson and Katharine Robinson beat Ben Nye and Eloise Radcliffe 21-18; Rob Morray and Abby Radcliffe beat Tom Higgins and Carrie Higgins 21-17; James Sole and Bethan Evans-Brain beat Matt Heal and Pai 21-14.

In the semi’s, Anthony and Tracey defeated Callum and Kate 21-10, with Rob and Abby beating James and Bethan 10-21. The final saw James and Bethan 21-17 winners.

In the main event, the quarter final results were as follows: Mike and Alice Brett beat Paul Gardner and Alice Lamb 21-17; Olly Powers and Aimee Morgan beat Alex Nash and Jeanette Legg 11-21; Matthew Ralph and Alice beat Andrew Stewart and Kelly 15-21; Gabs Hutchinson and Clara Fitzpatrick-Milton beat Paul Edwards & Nicola Wall 7-21.

The semi’s saw Mike and Alice beat Alex and Jeanette 19-21; Andrew and Kelly beat Paul and Nic 18-21. In a top quality grand final, Paul and Nic (-6) turned it on to win a close battle 21-18 against Alex and Jeanette (+2).

This concluded a mammoth day of local badminton and thanks were given to Mark Edwards, Paul Edwrads and Rob Morray on their running of the tournament.

Original article – http://www.thewestonmercury.co.uk/sport/weston-handicap-tournament-proves-a-successful-event-1-5004479

Is aimed at players from the lower divisions of the leagues and also social players.

You don’t need to be affiliated to anybody to play.

Sunday 23rd April at Hengrove Park Leisure Centre Bristol BS14 0DE

CLOSING DATE: Monday 17th April 2017

This tournament is aimed at good club standard players and offers Ladies Doubles, Men’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles.
This tournament is intended to offer tournament play to good club players who may not otherwise have a chance to enter competitions – so please support it – don’t delay it is only a few weeks away!!

Please click here for tournament information and entry form

Below are some important links –

LEAGUE RULES

LADIES FIXTURES 2016-17

MENS FIXTURES 2016-17

MIXED FIXTURES 2016-17

There will be 2 more home matches this season:
Bristol Jets v The University of Nottingham – Monday, January 30th (7pm)
Bristol Jets v Surrey Smashers – Monday, February 6th (7pm)
SGS WISE Arena, is in a convenient location just off junction one of the M32, and a short ten minute walk from Abbeywood and Bristol Parkway train stations.

SGS WISE Arena, New Road, Stoke Gifford, Bristol BS34 8LP

Home tickets for Bristol Jets games are available from as little as £3 for under-12s (members) and £9 for adults (members) online via tickets.bristol-sport.co.uk or by calling 0117 963 0600.

Click here to view a full price list.

Sadly Bill Docherty passed away suddenly on December 8th after taking ill the same day. He had just reached his 70th birthday. Bill spent many years coaching Junior Badminton within Bristol and Bath. He played at BAC, Beaufort, Sunday night’s at Kingsdown and for many years was involved in the Bristol – Hannover Multisport Exchange, making many long standing friendships in the process, involving several other clubs and forging great relationships with the exchange participants and leadership of both councils.

Two of Bill’s children were saddened to hear of Roy Niblett’s passing just 3 days after their dad as Roy had coached both of them for many years at Kingsdown Juniors, two outstanding volunteers with 70 + years of Junior coaching between them.

The funeral for William (Bill) Docherty will take place at 11am on Friday 13th January 2017 in the Top Chapel at Haycombe Cemetery and Crematorium, Whiteway Rd, Bath BA2 2RQ.

The funeral will be followed by a private family committal. Everyone is invited to a gathering at Saltford Golf Club where we will remember Bill by asking people to share photos and memories in a display area. If you have something to share with the family, please contact them or Clarkson’s as below.

Family flowers only please. Instead any donations will be passed to Avon Badminton Association to support the development of Junior Badminton.

All funeral enquiries, donations and messages of condolence to Clarkson’s Independent Funeral Directors, Saltford Branch (01225) 873535.

Regards,

Penny Shears
Badminton Development Officer for Avon Badminton Association
07941013514