The Isle of Man Badminton Under 15s Tournament, sponsored by Capital International, took place at the Roundhouse recently with a strong entry of both boys and girls.
Competition started with the boys singles event with players divided in to into 3 initial groups. The winner of group 1 was defending champion Lok Cheung with Jasper Corlett taking the runner up spot and first bronze medal. Group 2 was won by Jet Woon sending him in to the semi-final with group 3 winner Adi Malikireddy. The clash to reach the final was an exciting and tense nip and tuck battle all the way, with Woon just edging out Malikireddy 21-19 in the closing stages. This saw Mailikireddy claiming the second bronze and set up the final of Cheung v Woon. With their past encounters dictating it could go either way, this time it was an on form Woon with some steady play who took the win 21-9 to take his first title in the u15 age group.
A slightly smaller entry saw the girls divided in to 2 strong groups with results that could have gone a number of ways! Topping group 1 was Kelly Cheung with Sophie Clague in 2nd place to take the first bronze. In group 2 it was u13s champion Sky Yin who took the top spot and booked herself a place in the final. Following closely behind was Erin Corlett who claimed the 2nd bronze. In the final it was Cheung who showed her strength over her younger opponent despite a good fight from Yin, running out with the win 21-11 and also landing her first under 15’s singles title.
The level doubles were next and saw 2 large groups of boys with the top 2 to go through to the final and the runners up receiving the bronze medals. The winners of Group 1 were Lok Cheung and Adi Malikireddy who won all their games, they were followed by Jasper Corlett and Charlie Kneale who took the first bronze. In the other group, winners were Jet Woon and Ziyad Sulthan who progressed to the final leaving runners up in the group as Nehall Kilari and Aarav Arun who claimed the second bronze. The final was a commanding performance from Cheung/Malikireddy who took the victory and the doubles title 21-11.
The girls doubles were played in one group as a round robin and had a lot of very tight games that finished 21-20! Bronze Medals were claimed by Xara Quinn and Erin Corlett, and Sophie Clague and Lara Stewart, 2nd in the group and taking the silver medals were Abigail Kwan and Sky Yin and winners of the gold medals after winning all of their games were Kelly Cheung and Fatima Syed, a second title of the day for Cheung.
The mixed doubles was the last event of a long day and a lot of tired legs to battle against. Players were again split in to initial groups that were played as a round robin. Winners of group 1 were Fatima Syed and Lok Cheung, with Aamiya Cijesh and Ziyad Sulthan in second and claiming the first bronze. The 2nd group was a very tight contest for the bronze with Alice Hemensley and Charlie Kneale just edging it for 2nd place. Group winners were Kelly Cheung and Adi Malikireddy. The final was very closely contested with Cheung/Malikireddy running out the winners in a very close game finishing 21-19. This gave Kelly Cheung a superb triple victory in the U15 age group and Adi Maikireddy a double.
As always, a huge thank you to our sponsors Capital International, all the tournament organisers as well as players, parents and supporters!
