The Richard Vaughan Badminton Academy (Supported by Memory Lane Cakes) had a great Welsh Nationals tournament this weekend with sixteen year old Sarah Thomas taking the Senior National title without dropping a set throughout the tournament.

In the final Thomas overcame Carissa Turner 21-13 21-19. The Welsh senior title backs on to her recent success taking the British u17 title in January.

Head RVBA coach Richard Vaughan commented “It’s another great title for Sarah to take as she had a tough draw with tricky matches in every round. Sarah had to work hard both in the semi final versus Carolina, in the final against Carissa and despite not playing her best Badminton she was able to win.

In Sweden last week Sarah played a lot better against the German No1 u19 and lost 16-21 in the third end in the first round of qualification. Sarah just has to keep improving in all areas, results like this weekend help with her motivation. It was great to see a number of Mid Glam player do well, showing the county is moving forward”

Thomas was also top seed in the mixed doubles with Richard Vaughan, however the latter was forced to redraw due to a shoulder injury picked up in the Friday night North Wales Coaching Clinic.

There were also notable good performances from former RVBA players. Vikki Jones won the Mixed doubles, and narrowly lost the Ladies double final with a fellow former RVBA player now studying at Loughborough University Kelly Blake.

Gareth Day reached the ¼ final after some tough games marking some good progress from him in the past year.

The RVBA’s coach Vaughn Tovey went down narrowly in three games in the other ¼ final to Rhys Pritchard.

The next big tournament for the RVBA will be the Austrian Badminton Open in three weeks time.