Latest News - 2001 Archive
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December 2001
National Under 13 Singles and Doubles Champion Chris Adcock faced the major challenge of his England career so far when he travelled to Copenhagen last weekend to play in the Danish Under 13 Open.
Chris, who lives in Ravenshead, a member of Mansfield Junior Badminton Club and a pupil of Colonel Frank Seely School in Calverton had already done well when travelling with England in continental Europe but taking on the Danes in their own back yard was always going to be the acid test of his growing potential. The Danes are without doubt the strongest Badminton Nation in Europe and one of the best in the world - Badminton is of course their national sport.
Playing in the Elite competition with the best 28 boys in Denmark Chris progressed to the Quarter finals against the strongest competition he has ever faced before meeting the Danish No2 seed Matts Bue - After a tough match Chris came out victorious in straight sets to stun the large Danish crowd by reaching the semi - final.
In the semi Chris disposed of the No3 seed also from Denmark before facing up to the Danish No1 seed, Also No 1 in Europe, Dennis Prehn. In a tough final and in front of a noisy Danish gallery Chris delivered another blow to the much fancied Danes by winning in two sets 15:9 15:13. This is the first time that an England boy has taken the U'13 Danish title and certainly confirms Chris's top 3 Europeon ranking.
As well as winning a gold in the singles , Chris and his England partner Paul Schuller ( also from Notts - Worksop ) took the silver in the Boys doubles losing narrowly in the final 15:13 in the third end to the Danish no.2 pair - Both boys were tiring badly during this , the last game of the tournament but had beaten the Danish No1 seeds in the semi . Yet again a wonderful achievement for both the boys , England and Notts.
England Coach and team Manager Karen Peatfield was delighted with the boys achievements and said 'This is the first time in generations that the Danes have lost to England at this age group and it was wonderful to show them the developing strength of English Junior Badminton. The real hard work for Chris and Paul begins now - The Danes will not want to lose to them next time !! '
Both Chris and Paul are now Lottery supported
under the World Class Start Programme and undertake their England cell
training twice weekly in Mansfield. Notts Schools Badminton Association
continues to go from strength to strength and can now boast 13 Junior
International Squad Members.
See also December 2002
November 2001
British Grand Slam Event
November 3rd
& 4th
2001
Nathan Robertson, Anthony Clark and Andrew South were all winners at the British Grand Slam Event held at Burgess Hill, Sussex.
Andrew South had a magnificent win in the Mens singles, beating former National champion Darren Hall in the semi-final and Michael Edge in the final.
Robertson and Clark confirmed their number one status by taking the Mens Doubles title in convincing style, beating Julian Robertson and Ian Sullivan in straight games.
Nathan completed the double by teaming up with his partner Gail Emms to take the Mixed Doubles title. Seeded number one the current World ranked number six pairing beat Hurrell and Davies in the final.
October 2001
Danish Open
October 16th to 21st
2001
Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms followed up their first World Grand Prix Mixed title in the two star Dutch Open with another excellent result in the Danish Open, a six star Grand Prix event. Britains new number one pairing reached the final before losing out to Indonesians Trikus Haryanto and Emma Ermaway, recent winners of the Indonesian Open. Haryanto was also an Olympic Silver medalist with his previous partner. On their way to the final Nathan and Gail beat the World ranked number three Danish pairing of Sogaard and Olsen and an Indonesian couple.
Already ranked tenth in the World, Robertson and Emms will move further up the rankings, after this result.
Nathan and Anthony Clark lost narrowly in the quarter finals to Ericson and Larson of Denmark (World ranked number five) after having two match points.
October 2001
Dutch Open
October 9th to
14th 2001
Nottinghamshire and Cotgrave International badminton star Nathan Robertson teamed up with Gail Emms from Buckinghamshire to win their first Mixed World Grand Prix title.
England's Number One pairing won the Dutch Open in impressive style beating home favourites Bruil and Jonathans in the final.
Robertson and Emms, known as the glamour pair in World badminton, should now move into the top ten World Ranking after only their first four Grand Prix tournaments.
Anthony Clark of Nottinghamshire partnered Nathan
to reach the semifinal of the Mens event, losing out to a Dutch pair in
an exciting high quality match.
August
2001
Notts BA - Making A Breakthrough With The Disabled
In my first year as the development officer for badminton in Nottinghamshire, I was asked if I could introduce our sport to people with disabilities.
The first plan of action was to many courses as possible, relating to disabled sport and disability awareness for coaching.
I contacted Phil Peat, the Nottinghamshire disability officer and I explained that the Nottinghamshire BA were keen for our sport to be played by all age groups with disabilities around the county.
Phil arranged for a four-week course at the Harvey Haddon Stadium. He also organised 16 participants along with their carers to take part. I arranged for three qualified coaches to take part in this pilot scheme.
We coaches were keen that the event would be successful but apprehensive because this was our first attempt at coaching disabled sport people. We were not sure that we could adapt our sport to suit everyone's needs.
We should not have worried as it was a tremendous success. The participants enjoyed every single minute. We arranged a variety of games and play, from rallying across the net to drop the bomb!
Everyone took part including Phil and the carers. There were shuttlecocks flying everywhere. The only problem we had as that the time went too quickly.
I would like to say that the coaches and myself thoroughly enjoyed this new experience. We hope this will be the first of many and that badminton will now appear among the other sports that the disability unit use on a regular basis.
Elaine Spray
From
an article in the August 2001 edition of Badminton magazine
June 2001
There has been a quiet resurgence going on in the world of badminton in Nottingham.
The sport was thrust into the national spotlight at last year's Sydney Olympics when England's Simon Archer and Jo Goode scooped bronze.
Archer has now teamed up with Cotgrave's Nathan Robertson and their form has seen the duo storm to the top of the seedings in England.
Ranked No.2 in the men's doubles is Anthony Clark, who also graduated through the Notts junior sections and represented the county at junior and senior levels.
David Lindley, who hails from Calverton, is the
eighth seed in the men's doubles, while Newark's Andrew South has climbed to
third in the singles rankings. But it is not just the 20 -somethings from Nottingham
who are proving a force to be reckoned with at the highest level in this country.
Cyril Martin and Kay Brindle are the No.1 mixed doubles pairing in the 55-60 age category. And Stapleford's Colin Abbott, along with Barbara Henley from Papplewick, earned the gold medal in the European Veterans Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, in the mixed doubles over-60s category.
The victory means they are the best in Europe and England following their success at the English Nationals last December. Not that you would ever guess. Sixty-two-year-old Colin is extremely modest.
"I was originally going to play this, season with Joan Morley. But she got tennis elbow following county matches and so she couldn't play in the nationals at Bath," said Colin, whose wife' Jenny, also plays. "I entered with Barbara and we won against a pair from Avon. In Bulgaria we were seeded two and we beat the Danish pair, who were the No.1 seeds, I was surprised to win because I thought they were a better pair than us, but we managed to win 15-11,15-13.
"The standard was quite good. There were 24 gold medals available in all of the age groups and England won is of them. It doesn't take much time to adjust because we fitted together all right. There are certainly people I don't like playing mixed doubles with, but together you practice and I play quite a bit of badminton, so theoretically I should be able to play alongside anyone.
"The first time I entered a veterans championships
was two years ago and this season I thought I would give it a good go because
it might be my
last chance. I will be 63 in December and you get the younger
ones coming through into the senior category.
"I went to the gym at Chilwell Olympia and it is the first time I have done any real gym work. I have been fairly injury free and age is a great leveller in badminton. If you keep your fitness, you can beat someone that's more skilful if they can't move around as well."
Colin also left Bulgaria with a bronze medal in the men's doubles alongside Bill Houghton from Arnold when they were defeated in the semi-finals by the No 1 seeds from Denmark. They had successfully, defended their title in the English Nationals by overcoming Bob Jackson and Bill Andrew.
The veterans game is particularly strong in Nottingham. Colin, who is a van driver for Nottingham Trent University library department, is a member of the Nottingham Veteran Badminton Club.
The county veteran team had another successful
season. After losing to Cumbria in the league competition, they gained revenge
by defeating the county in the Inter County Championship cup tournament.
"In Notts we play against all ages but we can't compete against the younger county players because they're quite agile," he admitted. "Quickness of mind and experience pays off to some extent but you lose a little bit of power and quickness.
"From a veterans point of view there might be a world championships next year or the year after, and there is a possibility that there will be a World Masters event, like a veterans Olympic games for all sports, in Australia."
Despite the success of Notts players, Colin, who started playing badminton when he was aged 19, does not think the game will ever really catch the public's imagination and enjoy the popularity of other racquet sports like tennis.
He said: "There was a boom time when I took up badminton and then it fell back in the late 1970s and 1980s. In the modern era there are other sports and there are not as many people playing only badminton than there has been in recent times because there is more things for people to do.
"It is always going to be a Cinderella sport even though I would like to say it wasn't. It doesn't come across too well on TV because you can't appreciate how quick it is. It makes the courts look smaller than they are.
"It might take off a bit more if England produced a world singles champion or Olympic singles champion."
The gauntlet has been thrown down.
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