The latest Badminton Europe Circuit Rankings were released yesterday after the Badminton Europe Cyprus event in Nicosia. Badminton Wales RVBA pair Richard Vaughan and Sarah Thomas now lead the rankings after their final result in Cyprus, and have moved their World Ranking to the highest this year at No48.

After some excellent results Rachel and Sarah Thomas are now second in the Badminton Europe Ladies Doubles Circuit Rankings, just behind top Russian pair Sorokina and Vislova. The young Badminton Wales pair now move up to 60 in the World after their semi final result in Cyprus.

In the Ladies Singles sixteen year old Sarah Thomas moved up to No7 in the Badminton Europe Circuit Rankings after her ¼ Final in Cyprus. That also pushed her in to the World top 100 for the first time at 99, the 5th highest British player and only 16 years old. Sister Rachel Thomas also moved to her highest ranking after her Last 16 result in Cyprus moving to World No138.

Full updates on World and European Badminton Rankings can be found at; http://bwf.tournamentsoftware.com/ranking/ranking.aspx?rid=71

Head RVBA Coach Richard Vaughan commented “The ranking this week are very encouraging after some tough tournaments in Ukraine, Bulgaria and Cyprus. Sarah as well at such a young age is lucky enough to be gaining some great experience. Everything is right on track for Commonwealth Games qualification which is one of the seasons goals for the players. I must say the general level of the young female athletes in Europe is very high, and its great for Sarah to have such competition. It its important to give a special thanks to RVBA sponsors Memory Lane Cakes and FD Systems for supporting the players as without this funding none of the this would be possible ”

RVBA’s Aimee Moran this weekend fought through to the Semi final of the English Gold u17 event being played in Cwmbran. Next week Sarah Thomas in playing against Xativa (Valencia) for Paracuellos Madrid in a top of the league encounter in the Spanish Badminton league.