U15 INTER-COUNTY TEAM CHALLENGE NOVEMBER 2007

The Isle of Man under-15 team, sponsored by Kirby Estates competed in York at the weekend in one of the regional rounds of the Inter-County Championships.  The team, comprising of Ashleigh Keown, Kayleigh Callow, Natalie Carter, Georgina Li, Ben Li, Brian Drew, James Gifford and Matthew Cannell played very well against the extremely tough opposition.

The team came up against the three toughest teams first, Yorkshire, Nottingham and Durham.  Unfortunately, we were unable to win any games in our opening match against the very strong Yorkshire team .  The next game against Nottinghamshire was another tough match with the Isle of Man losing 6-1.  Ben Li emerged as the Island’s only winner beating Kurran Sachdeva 21-12 in the boys singles.  Again, we were only able to win one game against Durham with Ben Li and James Gifford winning the boys doubles 21-20.  There were four very close games, but unfortunately there was no setting and two of these matches finished 21-20.

The team then came up against Northumberland.  We only managed to win 2 out of the 7 games, but had there been setting it is possible the results may have been different.  Two of the games were lost 21-20.  The best match of the day was against Lincolnshire with the Island squad winning 5 out of the 7 games. Brian and Ashleigh playing at first mixed had a close game, but managed to hold onto the lead and win 21-20.  Ben and Kayleigh, playing at second mixed, also managed to win their game 21-19.  Brian then went on to win his singles match 21-18.  We also won both boys and girls doubles.  Ben and James had quite an easy match winning 21-10.  Ashleigh and Kayleigh won their match 21-16.

On Sunday, a friendly was played against Yorkshire and the Isle of Man came out on top.   The Isle of Man team would like to thank Kirby Estates for their continued support and George Li and Stephen Carter who travelled with the team.

U13 INTER-COUNTY TEAM CHALLENGE NOVEMBER 2007

The Isle of Man Under-13, sponsored by Quinn Kneale, consisting of Laura Beggs, Caitlin Barnett, Lucy Carter, Abigail Li, Cameron Avery, Daniel Martin, Adam McAuley and Calum Peat came up against stiff competition at the Under-13 County Team Challenge held at York Railway Institute on the 24th November 2007.

From a total of six teams, the IOM faced the favourites, Yorkshire, in their first match. Great spirit was shown by all, but against a strong and well-practiced opposition, only Daniel in the boys’ singles and Cameron and Calum in the boys doubles came close to winning their sets. Yorkshire won 6-0. Having warmed up against Yorkshire, the IOM then faced the second favourite, Nottinghamshire. The team achieved much better scores in this match with Daniel winning his singles in three games and Laura Beggs winning the girls singles also in three games. Overall, the team achieved better scores in this match whilst losing 4 sets to 2.

The next match against Durham was very closely fought. Cameron and Calum made a good start in the boys’ doubles only to lose in 3. Laura, Daniel and Adam all won their games in 2 to give the IOM 3 sets to Durham’s 3. Overall, the IOM won on games count back.

Next IOM faced Northumberland with the IOM winning the match 5 to 1. Highlights included a heroic effort by Calum to win his singles in 3 games. Lucy Carter put her early Christmas present of a pink badminton racket to good use and convincingly won her singles 15-2 and 15-6.

The final match was against a weakened Lincolnshire who were a player down and having to concede their girls’ doubles. The IOM players made sure of their overall 3rd place position with a strong finish winning the match 5-1.

Great team spirit, determination and vocal support was shown and was rewarded with a magnificent 3rd place against opposition who all benefit from larger player pools and playing opportunities.