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.