The Isle of Man Badminton Association Open Tournament was held at the NSC on the Weekend of the 9th & 10th September 2023 and attracted a very good entry. All the events were played in a Round Robin format. The Singles events were played on the Saturday and in the Women’s Singles there were two groups with Leah Brennan (Fencibles) winning Group A and Jessica Thornton (Fencibles) finishing second. Group B was won by Annelise Mellor (Athol Park Guest House Castletown) with Charlotte Watson (Apollo Blinds Vikings) finishing second. In an exciting final with a very close second game, Brennan won 21-13, 22-20 to successfully defend her title.
The Men’s Singles had four groups with defending Champion Alex Buck (Apollo Blinds Vikings) winning Group A, Matthew Gawne (Apollo Blinds Vikings) beating Martin Cheung (Fencibles) in 3 games to win Group B , Group C was won by Tobey Cheng (Fencibles), last year’s runner-up, and Group D was won by Steve Quayle (Apollo Blinds Vikings). The semi-finals saw Buck beating Gawne 21-15, 21-16 and Cheng beating Quayle 21-12, 21-19. In a tight final Cheng reversed the result from last year winning 21-15, 21-18.
The Women’s Doubles had 2 groups with Philippa Li & Mia Kirk (both Fencibles) winning group A, with Sarah Corlett (Kella Farms Sulby) & Joyce Hall ( Align 4 Life Selborne) finishing runners-up and Annelise Mellor & Leah Brennan winning Group B with Kayleigh Callow (Athol Park Guest House Castletown) & Charlotte Watson finishing runners-up. The final was another very tight game with Brennan & Mellor winning 21-17, 23-21.
The Men’s Doubles was also split into two Groups with Matthew Nicholson (Apollo Blinds Vikings) and Tobey Cheng winning Group A with Baillie Watterson & Ben Kneale (both Athol Park Guest House Castletown) finishing second, while Group B was won by Alex Buck & Neil Harding (Apollo Blinds Vikings) with Martin Cheung & Steve Quayle finishing second. In the final Nicholson & Cheng won 21-15, 21-13.
The Mixed Doubles was the final event of the day and was split into four Groups. Group A was won by Matthew Nicholson & Mia Kirk with Group B being won by Martin Cheung & Annelise Mellor. Group C winners were Tobey Cheng & Philippa Li with Group D being won by Alex Buck & Leah Brennan. The first Semi-final saw Nicholson & Kirk beating Cheung & Mellor 21-11, 21-10 while the Second saw Cheng & Li beating Buck & Brennan 22-20, 21-17. The final saw Nicholson & Kirk winning the first game 21-11 but Cheng & Li came back to win the second 21-12. In the third game Nicholson & Kirk got ahead early and kept the lead to win 21-16.
The presentations were done at the end by the Umpires Caroline Whitehead & David Craig who did an excellent job all weekend. Also, many thanks to the NSC for the venue.
