Hey everyone:)

Short report from Croatian International  (04/03 to 07/03) which took  place last weekend (04/03 to 07/03) in  Zagreb.

With my easy win in the first round against Russian Khlebko (10, 12) I faced Japanese player Oka in the second round. It was quite good match but at the end I lost with the result 21/16, 21/15. We played 37 minutes, with quite constant long relies.  In women’s doubles with my Croatian partner Zvorc I finished 3rd. We lost semi-finals against later winners Grether/Reid (10, 16).

The Japanese was later on defeated by two times winner of the tournament - Nicole Grether from Germany. She showed all her experience and won the title in women’s single as well as women’s double (with her partner Charmain Reid).  English player Ben Beckman won the title in men singles.  Men’s double title went to Wales – Morgan/Phillips. In mixed double Croatian pair Poznanovic/Đurkinjak won their second title in a row – so the home crowd was as happy and loud as last year .

Don’t forget... It’s All England week. Have fun by following the interesting matches.

Hear u all,

Špela

I have been back in Loughborough since the Uber Cup, with plenty of work and training to get back to!
Training has been directed towards BUC's final which is next weekend in Sheffield.  I will be playing doubles, but not sure with who yet and we face Bath Uni in the semi final.  Loughborough is hoping to get to the final but will be a tough call, with 2 of our first team players unable to play. 

My next tournament after BUC's finals will be the European Champs which are held in England this year.  I am hoping to get back and get in some practice with Sarah during my long easter break, in preperation for the tournament.  

Rachel 

As a badminton player I think it's very nice to have the opportunity to write something on Richard's webpage. Especially because of the fact that he's a man that I respect a lot because of who he is as a person and also what he achieved as a player.

I'm Slovene player... Do you know…  Small but very beautiful country surrounded by Austria, Italy, Croatia and Hungary. :)  Heh... One season I’m back on the court now after a serious injury that kept me away since I was junior. In this time I think I made some progress already. I won one International Badminton Series (Cyprus) and reached two semis and some quarters in my ladies single. So I can say I’m on a good way but it's all just a beginning.

Heh, Richard told me to write something about my triple national badminton title I won in February. I won my single, mixed and doubles. Well that’s possible in a small country like ours because we don’t have so many players, well but we have some quite good ones in singles.  But the biggest difference is that we don’t have any double and mixed specialists. So, it’s not really often that someone can win three titles, so I’m happy I’ve done it, but it’s also not something to show off with.

Badminton Tournaments... I should play Austrian international Challenge last week but sadly I had to withdrawn because I got sick. This week I’m playing Croatian International. First round I’m facing a Russian player Khlebko, and in the second round Japanese Oka or Czech Tomalova. Third round probably first seeded Grether from Germany. But let’s play match after match. There will be good matches each round and I promise to give my best as I always do.  

Right after Croatia I’m off to Denmark until the end of the season. I go there to train. I’ve been there already for a short time – city called Odense. There are very good conditions for practicing, good team spirit, coach team and good environment to live in. But let say I’ll write some more about that in the future.

Well that’s it for the first time:) I’ll stay in touch and write something small from time to time:)

Have fun,

Špela

 

 

I injured my knee back in October and thanks to a mis-diagnosis ended up on crutches from mid-november through to February. It turns out I had a torn patella tendon, rather than the more common tendonitis. I’ve been given the all clear to start rehab now so I’m happy to be back doing some form of badminton training; however Richard has advised me to take it cautiously as it’s a long and frustrating road back to a complete recovery.
More to come.....

Badminton Training going good these past few weeks, hard but need to be. Working really hard for nationals in two weeks, hoping to do really well. Training on court 4 nights a week, including high performance, and individual  badminton training with richard. Physical training before school. Really hard waking up! Hopefully all this training will pay off with some results!

Another great win for the rebels mixed team Sunday proving too strong for the Vale. The Rebels team was up against it though as the Vale took an early lead, with the match of the night between Richard and Piret Vaughan against Chris Rees and Jordan Heart. After two outstanding games Chris and Jordan came away with the victory 22-20 in the second, which set off the fireworks for the rest of the night.  The other Rebels pairs also had closely fought matches with Andy and Mush narrowly missing out in straight sets. Vikki and Gareth took the first rubber for the Rebels ploughing through the Vale second pair. This set the score as 2-1 to the Vale.

The next three rubbers were better for the Rebels with Richard and Piret taking the Vale second pair in straight sets and Vikki and Gareth doing the same to the third pair. Andy and Mush succumb to Chris and Jordan, which meant that the scores were tied at 3 rubbers all with 3 to play.

Obviously for the Rebels to take the match they need to take 2 of the remaining 3 rubbers. Richard and Piret set us off with a good start taking their game in straight sets. This was followed by a great win for Andy and Mush over Vale second pair, and to finish another great night off for the Rebels Vikki and Gareth took a notable win against Chris and Jordan beating them 21-14 and 22-20.

Final score 6-3 to the Rebels.

The Rebels faced a tough away trip to Nomads A on Monday night where Nomads were looking for revenge after being beaten at the Rebels backyard.

It was imperative that Rebels got off to a good start and did so winning 2 of the 3 rubbers on offer, with great wins for Michelle Smith and Andy Mickleborough who fought their way through a tough 3 setter winning in the third 21-17, Vikki Jones and Gareth Day also picked up a noticeable result against the strong Walkley brother and sister partnership where they had to come from one set down to win the game in the 3rd set 21-13. Unfortunately Kath Davies supporting Huw Wilson succumb in straight sets despite some spectacular Lin Dan like diving from Huw.

The next 3 rubbers were also battled for well, again with Rebels taking 2 of them, leaving the score 4-2 to the Rebels.

With the last 3 rubbers to play Nomads had to take them all to stand any chance of winning the tie. The Nomads put up a spirited fight with the Walkley pairing and Chris Allen playing with Fiona Sheppard taking both of their rubbers, but Vikki and Gareth managed to clinch the final game that was required for the Rebels win.

Final result 5-4 to the Rebels.

There was another good result for the Mid-Glamorgn county team Sunday as they defeated Worcestershire away from home in a closely contested 9-6 victory.

Mid-Glamorgan ran into an early lead with Andrew Woodland, Gareth Day, Vikki Jones and Michelle Smith all taking their singles games which put them 4-0 ahead.

Andrew Woodland teamed up with Andy Mickleborough and Gareth Gooding with Gareth Day for the tough men’s doubles matches, which unfortunately they lost 3 of the possible 4 rubbers.

The women produced better results with Vikki Jones and Michelle Smith taking both of their women’s doubles matches and Kiri Evans who partnered Judith Hughes had some excellent tight games but lost both games in straight sets. The score at this point was 7-5 to Mid-Glam.

The game came to an exciting finale with mixed doubles deciding the final result. Worcestershire were looking for all the games so they could snatch the game at the depth, whilst Mid-Glam were looking for all three games so they could acquire the bonus point for winning 10 games. Vikki Jones and Gareth Day took the first game for Mid-Glam putting the game out of reach for Worcestershire but they were still looking to deny Mid-Glam the bonus point. Michelle Smith and Andrew Woodland took Mid-Glam a step closer with a comfortable win in straight sets. In the final game Judith Hughes and Gareth Gooding teamed up searching for the bonus point but unfortunately were defeated in a close and intense match by a strong pair losing 21-16 and 21-18.

Final result Mid-Glam 9 – Worcestershire 6.

Good winning weekend in Madrid last weekend as Badminton Paracuellos beat Ibiza in the second leg of the Quarter final match of the Spanish Badminton League. We won the first leg 5-2, and the second 4-3 with a slightly weaker team. Thats now gives us a semi final match against my old club and Spanish Badminton League champions of I dont know how many years Seville Badminton Rinconada. 

All the RVBA players did really well at the Thomas and Uber Cups in Poland. Even more impressive they made blog updates!!!!!

Finally a bit of classic video from my friends at Badminton.tv and AlistairCasey.com. Alistair in action against Yangbo at the Singapore Super Series in 2009.