Plane takes singles crown in Vets clash

Those two Norfolk perennials, Eric Plane and Tim Hudson-Church, joined 250 other players at Milton Keynes to compete in the Yehlex Veterans English National Championships and to defend their Over 45s level doubles title. They fought their way into the final only to be beaten by Darrell Roebuck and Kim Yong 21-17,21-13. But better things were to come for Eric when he teamed up with his regular mixed doubles partner, Linda Wood, to take the mixed title, beating David Pratt and Kathy Isherwood in a hard fought final 20-22,22-20,21-16.Then the icing on the christmas cake came in the Over 50s mens singles when he beat John Machin in a really tough and exhausting final 22-20,25-23. He can now rest until the New Year!

* Norfolk county junior player Adam Stubbing from Kings Lynn and his regular partner Dan Farrow from Lowestoft won gold medals in the National Challenger Under 17 bronze event played at Kent University. On their way to victory they overcame the singles gold medal winner, Daniel Goodsell and his partner, Louis Bedwell from Sussex 21-19 in the semi-final and then, in a highly competitive and entertaining final, produced their best performance to date with a 24-22 victory over Victor Chiew and Robert Golding from Essex to take the title.

Earlier in the day, Adam and fellow junior county player, Mark Robinson, reached the quarter-finals of the singles event, while Dan reached the semi-finals, earning his first national singles bronze medal.

* The county Over 60s team opened their season with two commendable victories, beating Suffolk 9-3 and then Lincolnshire on count-back, having drawn the match 6 all.

Representing the county over the two matches were Alan Palmer, David Pennington, Bob Tooby, Copper, Gerald Cook, Ann Hutchin, Gill Holman, Pam Mace, Louis Ash, Margaret Peters and Linda Foster.

* In their latest Shires League match, the county Under 17s team came face to face with high flying Hertfordshire, arguably the strongest county in our division, with plenty of strength in depth. Despite taking four games to three close sets, the team lost 20-0

Representing Norfolk were Craig Thomas, Luke Cox, Mark Robinson, Adam Stubbbing, Charlotte Crosby, Serena Verney, Holly Bowen and Briony Lund.