U15 Championships!

Lucas Lefevre, Chris Piff and Stephanie Rowland each won two titles at the County Restricted Under 15s Championships played at the Norwich Heartsease and Blyth Jex Schools. The boys singles was played in four groups, with all four seeds coming through to set up two good, hard fought semi-finals. In the first, Lucas Lefevre beat his brother Kurtis 21-13, whilst, in the other, Chris Piff and John Carrier were locked into a momentous battle, with Piff coming out on top by the narrowest of margins, 21-20. That match inevitably had an impact upon Piffs performance in the final, which Lefevre won 21-4 , to take his first title of the day.

His second title came in the boys doubles when he partnered Piff to victory in a closely fought final against brothers, Matthew and Daniel Farrow, 15-10. Andrew McColl and Adam Stubbing and another brothers team, Lee and Mark Robinson were the losing semi-finalists

The girls singles champion for this season is Rebecca Heeles, who beat Charlotte Crosby 11-3, 11-5 in the final, although Crosby had beaten Heeles earlier in the group stage. All four seeds reached the semis, with Heeles beating Emma Davies 11-5,11-5 and Crosby coming out on top against Stephanie Rowland 11-4, 11-2.

The girls doubles was played in a "round robin" format, with the Crosby/Rowland team winning all their games to take the title. Davies and Heeles were the runners up, losing the deciding game against Crosby and Rowland 15-10.

Chris Piff and Stephanie Rowland took their second title of the day by winning the mixed doubles. The pair were undefeated in the group stage and then beat Adam Stubbing and Emma Davies 15-4 in the first semi-final. Lee Robinson and Charlotte Crosby won the other semi-final, beating Mark Robinson and Holly Bowen 15-8. Piff and Rowland won a well contested final 15-9.

It was good to see a large number of entries from the Under 13s. No doubt some of them will have their day at the forthcoming Under 13s Championship which takes place on November 12.

Entry forms can be obtained from area representatives or downloaded from the County website at www.norfolkbadminton.co.uk

* All three junior county teams have been in early season action. The Under 13s played a mammoth friendly against Suffolk, with twelve players in each team. With many having their first taste of county action, there was a lot of enthusiasm in the hall, with two Norfolk girls offering to play for Suffolk to make up the numbers. The match was played in a great spirit, there were many close games and Norfolk finally ran out winners 23 1/2 to 18 1/2.

Team: Alex Oliver, Joshua Ring, Marcus Evans, Andrew Carrier, James Bailey, Adam Dismore, Annie Giles, Louise Thacker, Serena Verney, Amy Sharman, Sabrina Goodman, Amy Bonham and, playing for Suffolk,Kelly Goodman and Lucy OMara-Copeman.

The Under 15s and Under 17s played their first Shires League matches of the season, with the Under 15s beating Bedfordshire 11-9 and the Under 17s crashing to Lincolnshire 19-1. The Under 15s boys, Chris Piff, Lucas Lefevre, John Carrier and Lee Robinson set up the teams victory by winning all their singles and doubles games, whilst the girls, Charlotte Crosby, Emma Crosby, Rebecca Heeles and Stephanie Rowland were completely out of touch, losing all theirs. Winning three of the four mixed doubles gave Norfolk victory.

The Lincs Under 17 team were far too strong for Norfolks liking and their greater power brought them a 19-1 victory. Nevertheless, the Norfolk players battled valiantly throughout the match and their workrate and commitment deserved a better scoreline.

Team: Chris Piff, Ryan Minns, Rohan Chitale, Lee Thomas, Stephanie Buttle, Sarah Lewin, Kirstie Spinks and Lauren Blake.