Agony as Ellis gets defeated!
Great Britain are on promotion course
SUBLIMATION (172) S Gollings 7 11-0 ...... Miss S A Trotter (7) BLUE JACKET (245) Mrs D Sayer 6 11-0 ............... Miss E Sayer STEADY MAJOR (22) W Brisbourne 5 11-0 .... Becky Brisbourne (3) BAD GIRL CAOIMHE (15)MrsMFife410-13 ...... MissBeckySmith(3) SCHOTTISCHE (5) A Bailey 7 10-13 (CD2) ...... Miss J Cooley (5) ATHASSEL (12) P Evans 8 10-12 (C3) ................... Mr J Flook (5) MUNAAWIB (61) R Peacock 9 10-12 (C3) .... Miss S Peacock (7) CHAMPAGNE FREDDIE (29) J G O’Shea 4 10-12 ...... Brodie Hampson ARCANISTA (12) R Hughes 4 10-11 ............... Mr M S Harris (7) THE SPECIAL ONE (152) A Stronge 4 10-11 ...... Mr J Newman (3) GABRIAL THE THUG (19) I Williams 7 10-10 (CD5) ...... Mr S Walker HEART OF AN ANGEL (14) H Spiller 4 10-9 .... Mr Romain Clavreul (5) POWERED (18) P Evans 4 10-8 ............... Miss E Mackenzie (5) BETTING: 3 Gabrial The Thug, 9-2 Athassel, 6 Schottische, 8 Blue Jacket, 10 The Special One, Sublimation, 12 Champagne Freddie, Powered, 14 Others. (15) M Attwater 9-4 (CD) ........ L Morris (23) A Carroll 8-12 ......................... G Downing (9) Miss G Kelleway 8-12 .................. C Lee (5) (19) Miss J Feilden 8-12 ..... Shelley Birkett (3) (15) J S Moore 8-7 ................ Hollie Doyle (5) (16) P Evans 8-7 ............................. A Mullen (15) P Evans 8-7 (D) ........ A Beschizza (15) P Evans 8-7 (D) ....................... C Beasley BETTING: 6-5 Peachey Carnehan, 11-2 De Vegas Kid, 6 Lady Volante, 7 Princess Way, 10 Joyful Dream, Madam Prancealot, 16 Oakley Pride, 20 Valley Lodge. OLYMPIC bronze medalist Marcus Ellis was left rueing missed opportunities as his Team Derby side fell at the final hurdle with Championship Final defeat in the AJ Bell National Badminton League.
Ellis – captain in the absence of the injured Rajiv Ouseph – and his teammates had entered the season finale at Milton Keynes’ centre:mk brimming with confidence after booking their final berth in style.
But they faced stiff opposition in the form of University of Nottingham Badminton, who came from behind to win 3-1 and lift the trophy for the first time.
Ellis and Lauren Smith lost their mixed doubles match against Chris Adcock and London 2012 bronze medalist Nina Vislova, and for Ellis, that was the moment he knew the tie was lost.
“I think we expected a little too much of ourselves going into the mixed doubles match,” he said.
“We saw this as a key game in the whole match itself, and at that stage, we knew it had swung in Nottingham’s favour. GREAT BRITAIN kept themselves on course for a shot at promotion back to the Fed Cup World Group II after completing a second 3-0 victory when seeing off Latvia in Tallinn.
“We knew we would have to cause an upset from there, but this is the NBL, it’s only to nine points so anything could have happened.
“We had a good team coming into the match, a team that was good enough to win.
“We knew Nottingham would be tough opposition – they are the only team we have lost to all season, so we knew they would be the hardest team we could face in the final, but we felt that we could win on the night.”
Lauren Smith and Kate Robertshaw had breezed through their women’s doubles tie with Jess Pugh and Li Lian Yang, prevailing in straight sets for the first time this term to give Team Derby the initial advantage.
But a battling performance from University of Nottingham’s Kieran Merrilees quickly restored parity, as he triumphed over three-time Olympian Scott Evans, despite a big comeback effort.
Victory for captain Adcock and Vislova swung the tie in University of Nottingham’s favour, as they came from a game down to defeat Ellis and Smith 3-1.
Britain, under the leadership of new captain Anne Keothavong, had opened their Euro/ Africa Zone Group I Pool C round-robin fixtures by beating Portugal.
Another dominant display followed as Heather Watson beat Diana Marcinkevica 6-3 6-0 and Johanna Konta won 6-2 6-3.
Laura Robson and Jocelyn Rae won the doubles rubber.