Veteran Success’s 2010/11

 

WORLD SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS 2011

This year the World Senior Championship was played in Richmond, Vancouver, from 21st to 28th August. The venue was the Olympic Oval, built for long track speed skating for 2010 Winter Olympics, an amazing and enormous sports venue, but sadly, not an ideal place for playing badminton.

Three players from Avon were taking part, Joanna Elson, Val O’Neill and Dave Gribble. All 3 played well Joanna returning with a Gold medal and Dave with a Bronze.

Joanna played in all three events playing o-65 ladies singles for the first time as a veteran and reaching the Quarter Finals, only losing 21-19, 21-19 to a French opponent who is a singles specialist.

Playing ladies doubles at o-60 with Val they had a tough first round game against the Japanese No1 seeds and though they acquitted themselves well they lost 21-15, 21-16.

Joanna triumphed at o-65 Mixed, playing with her regular partner, Ken Tantum from Notts, they had to overcome No2 seeds in the first round which they did comfortably. Two more good performances saw them reach the final where their opponents were a Canadian pair. Great serving from Joanna led to a superbly controlled performance from them both, winning the Gold Medal with scores of 21-14, 21-11.

Val , with another tough draw, and playing her first ever competitive game of singles, met the No3 seeded Dane in the first round, with what later proved to be a good score of 21-16, 21-13, as her Danish opposition went on to win Gold. Playing mixed at o-60 with Jim Garrett from Kent, beating Canadians and then Japanese, they progressed comfortably to the Quarter finals but went down in a closely fought match to the Danish No3 seeds and current All England champions 16-21, 21-18, 23-21.

Dave, playing o-50 in all 3 events, started his singles well but went down in a tough 3 setter to a Canadian, 10-21, 21-17, 21-11. He also had strong Canadian opponents at mixed doubles where, playing with Sue Coulson from Yorkshire, they lost 21-19, 21-12.

Dave had been paired up with an Englishman, Alan Wilson, who lives in Canada and it proved to be a successful men’s doubles pairing. In a tremendous first round match they overcame the Danish No3 seeds 21-18, 16-21, 21-18, then met French opponents, whom they beat comfortably, to progress to the quarter finals where they met, and beat, a Scandinavian pairing. In the semi final they were narrowly beaten 21-15, 22-20 but Dave brings home his first Bronze Medal.

England had a team of 61 players out of the 641 present.

Provisional medal table reads:

 

Joanna & Ken Tatum (Nottingham) All England Seniors Mixed Doubles O65

Joanna Elson

Represented England McCoig 060 Ladies Doubles
Silver Medal European Senior Championship 060 Ladies Doubles.
Bronze Medal European Senior Championship 065 Mixed Doubles.
Nationals Winner 060 ladies doubles and 065 Mixed doubles.
All England Senior Championships 065 Mixed doubles.
West of England 065 mixed doubles.
Winner 065 Mixed doubles Kent, Hampshire and York Tournaments.

England v Scotland 2011 Joanna & Val

Val O’Neill

Represented England McCoig 060 Ladies Doubles
Silver Medal European Senior championships O60 Ladies Doubles
Nationals Winner O60 Ladies Doubles

Eve Morgan

Welsh Nationals O40 Ladies Doubles Winner
Represented Wales v Ireland O40 singles, ladies doubles and mixed doubles

Anthony Welch

Represented Wales v Ireland O40 mixed and mens doubles 2011

Penny Shears

Bronze Medal European O60 Mixed Doubles with Bob Bell ( Cornwall)
Winner Hampshire O55 Ladies Doubles with Cathy Alexander ( Avon)
All England Seniors R/U O60 Mixed Doubles

Derek Simmons

All England Senior Winner O60 Men’s Doubles with Chris Hockey ( Surrey)

Cathy Alexander

Winner O55 Hampshire Ladies Doubles

Dave Gribble

Winner Northumberland O50 Men’s singles

Ian Nicholls

Winner Kent O50 Men’s Doubles

We had 3 teams in the Premier Division of the Yehlex Tournament Jan 2011

O60 Team came 2nd - Cath Chevin, Jenny Aspinall, Penny Shears, Val O’Neill, Bob Hammersley, Dave Offer, Derek Simmons and Mike Cox.

O50 Team came 3rd - Dave Gribble, Debbie Burrell, Gene Joyner, Ian Nicholls, John Gray, Judy White, Nigel Birkett, Shirley Green and Tessa Moxham.

O65 Team came 5th - Ray Badman, Pat Dyer, John Forster, Piers Hutton, Muriel Gayler and Anne Heale

Inter County Regional Finals April 2011

The O50 came 4th but were unlucky narrowly loosing a number of 3 setters. Judy White, Debbie Burrell, Shirley Green, Tessa Moxham, Dave Gribble, Ian Nicholls, Nigel Birkett,J ohn Gray, Gene Joyner and Jackie Addison played in the 1st team throughout the season

The O60 were 3rd with a win over Staffordshire which included Dave Eddy and Ed Sutton in their line up.The following people played in the 60’s 1st team throughout the season Bob Hammersley, Cathy Alexander, Cath Chevin, Colin Hunt, Dave Offer, Derek Simmons, Jenny Aspinall, Joanna Elson, Linda Pasley, Malcom Dover, Mike Cox, Moira Roberts, Penny Shears, Pete Onion, Rob Newmarsh, Sandra Nixon and Val O’Neill.

---

 

European Senior Badminton Championships 2010

SUCCESS FOR AVON PLAYERS

 

Four Avon veteran badminton players - Penny Shears, Val O’Neill, Joanna Elson and Dave Gribble (pictured below) - recently travelled to Dundalk, Ireland, to play in the European Senior Badminton Championships as part of a large squad of more than 100 players representing England at age groups from 35+ to 65+.

Of these four players only Val O’Neill had previous experience of these championships having played and won medals in the last Europeans in Spain in 2008, and also the World Championships in 2009. For the other players it was their first experience of a large international tournament.

The Avon players were delighted to return with four medals between them. Joanna Elson and Val O’Neill reached the final of the O60 ladies doubles where they finished in the silver medal position, losing to another English pairing, having comfortably beaten the second seeds in an earlier round. Joanna also won bronze in the O65 mixed doubles with Ken Tantum (Notts) and Penny Shears won a bronze medal in the O60 mixed doubles with Bob Bell from Cornwall.

Dave Gribble had a difficult draw in the O50 men’s singles and played well to win his opening match, recovering after a nervous start to take the three setter against German opposition. His second round match was against the number 1 seed, and eventual finalist, Per Juul Ulrich from Denmark. Although Dave was not able to overcome Ulrich on this occasion, he was not overawed by his reputation and played an impressive and confident game finishing 21-15, 21-17.

The England squad finished with an impressive total of 45 medals between them, with 11 Gold, 12½ Silver and 21½ Bronze with their nearest rivals Denmark taking a total of 25 medals.