Nott a bad effort from North squad

NORTHUMBERLAND’S youngsters performed well at the 53rd annual Under- 18 InterCounty Badminton Tournament in Nottingham.

With a mainly young and inexperienced team, and lacking strong singles players, North had no great expectations other than not finishing in the bottom group.

The number of competing counties was down by three to 32 and several of North’s closer competitors from recent years were missing.

It was always going to be tough but two good victories enabled North to secure 27th place, the same as last year.

New county coach Martin Fagan was pleased with the overall level of performances, as were his assistants Alison Thompson and Jamie Tinnion.

The team, supported by British Engines, consisted of Anna Railton, Libby Hall, Maddy Atkinson, Rachel Bogan, Sarah Bambrick, Arif Alam, George Moran, Jack Thorpe, Melvin Cherian and Vikram Nayyar.

With an entry of 32 teams, the format was straightforward – eight groups of four teams in each of three rounds.

In the first round, North faced Essex, Notts and Avon - and the first match went to Essex 9-1.

Alam and Cherian and Railton and Bambrick took their level doubles to three ends - but it was not until the last match the mixed pair of Moran and Railton fought back to record a 14-16, 15-13, 15-10 victory.

Moran and Railton scored another win against Notts but that match was again lost 9-1.

The clash with Avon was level after the singles at 2-2 thanks to wins by Bogan and Railton - but the six doubles only yielded the one victory from Bambrick and Bogan as Avon prevailed 7-3.

North then moved into a second-round group with Devon, Sussex and the Isle of Man.

Against Devon, North lost 1-0 and against Sussex they were narrowly beaten 5-4.

However, they then hit back to defeat Isle of Man 6-4.

This took the team into the group playing off for positions 25 to 28 against Berkshire, Norfolk and Northamptonshire.

North went down 5-2 to Berkshire and 7-3 to Norfolk but ended the competition with a 6-4 success against Northants thanks to victories in the doubles and mixed pairs.