The 22/23 Junior Club Badminton Season continued Sunday 26th February at the Tyneside Badminton Centre, with 5 clubs competing in the second weekend of the Reivers Junior League.
Round one started with one of the games of the day, as Morpeth Riverside came back strongly from 0-3 down to secure a 5-4 victory against Ryton, for whom the competitive pairing of Robbie Amers and Thomas Coates came within 2 points of winning the tie for Ryton. In the other round one fixture, Tyneside Sharks Hammerheads, secured a solid 7-2 victory against a competitive Thornaby team, despite the efforts of Thornaby’s Aishani Gupta, who was clinched victories in both the singles and doubles, with Roshan Prabhaker.
In the next round Thornaby pushed the Tyneside Tiger Sharks to the limit, falling just short in a 5-4 victory for the Tiger Sharks. The closeness of the result can be judged by the total points score – 156:155!
On the adjoining courts, a great effort from a typically committed Ryton team wasn’t enough against a strong Tyneside Hammerhead Sharks team, despite competitive performances in the top three singles games from Jack Biggs, Owen Ridley and Robbie Amers, the latter player pushing Mindinu Pallewella to the wire.
Approaching the midway point of the day and the two Tyneside Sharks teams faced off in a local derby. The Hammerheads ran out 8 -1 winners, but there were positive signs for the Tiger Sharks, with a victory for Tahir Ali in a fantastic game against a highly competitive Nick Gates. Competitive performances from the Tigers’ Daniel Hipkin and Toby Thorpe/Sam Billings in the doubles also offered encouraging signs for the future. On the other side if the hall, Thornaby ran out 8 -1 winners against Morpeth Riverside, with Finlay Curtis making good use his court mobility at top singles to register a victory for the Northumberland team. Competitive performances from Lucas Fletcher and Joe Ternent in the singles pushed their Teesside opponents, but the outstanding match of this tie was a narrow 21-20 doubles victory for Thornaby’s Oliver Swales/Louie Horsburgh over Finley Curtis/Ryan Scott.
The penultimate set of fixtures saw Morpeth Riverside take on the Tyneside Tiger Sharks, and Thornaby facing Ryton. Improving performances from both Daniel Scott and Jess Dodd were amongst the highlights for Morpeth. Despite the team’s best-efforts, Morpeth lost the tie 2 -7 against the Tiger Sharks, whose score included two solid singles performances from Autumn Vaulkhard and Alexander Hewitson. In the corresponding fixture, Thornaby succeeded against Ryton, despite an improving performance from Ayaz Katipoglu and the boundless energy, enthusiasm and smile of Jessica Biggs. Thornaby’s victory owed much to developing singles performances of Derren Boyle and Gloria Thomas.
In the last round, Morpeth Riverside sought to prevent the Tyneside Hammerhead Sharks from finishing the day unbeaten, but despite their best efforts couldn’t prevent a 8-1 victory for the Hammerheads. Key to the victory were the performances of Samuel Vincent, Harry Thompson, Megan Surrage and Tanish Kadapura, who remained unbeaten in singles throughout the day. The last fixture of the day saw Ryton succumb to a 8-1 defeat to the Tiger Sharks, despite Jack Biggs continuing to lead from the front, as he did all day.
Thanks for everyone who contributed to a great event – players, spectators and Team Managers.
Results
Team Event
Tyneside Sharks (Hammerheads)
Tyneside Sharks (Tiger Sharks)
Thornaby
Individuals
Attitude and Effort: Jessica Biggs (Ryton)
Court Coverage: Finley Curtis (Morpeth Riverside)
Best Shot: Jack Biggs (Ryton)
Hardest Hit: Sam Billings (Tyneside Sharks) & Oliver Swales (Thornaby)