The Isle of Man Badminton Association Club Players Tournament was played at the NSC on the weekends of the 28th January 2024 and the 4th February 2023 with all the events being played in a Round Robin format.
The first events played were the Singles with the Women’s attracting an entry of 5 and this was played in one group with Ameya Malikireddy (Falcons) winning on countback from Jessica Thornton (Fencibles) both winning 3 matches. The Men’s Singles had an entry of 10 and was played in 3 groups. Group A was won by Juan Domingo (Athol Park Guest House Castletown), Group B was won by Tommy Cheng (Fencibles) and Group C was won by Jake Vance (Tynwald Celts). The winner of Group B went straight through to the final and the other two winners played off in a semi-final which saw Domingo beating Vance in 3 games. The final also went to 3 games with Domingo winning the first 21-14 but Cheng came back to win the next two games 24-22 and 21-6.
The Mixed Doubles had an entry of 9 pairs and was played in 2 groups, each playing 2 games. Group A was won by Stuart Foley and Sarah Gardner (both of Apollo Blinds Vikings ) and Group B was won by Ben Kneale (Athol Park Guest House Castletown) and Sophie Thornton (Fencibles). The final was won on points by Foley & Gardner who won the first game 21-14 and lost the second 21-16.
The Women’s Doubles attracted 7 entries and was split into 2 groups. Group A was won by Sarah Gardner & Kelly Domingo (Marown) with Michelle Garrity & Jess Lloyd (Marown) finishing second. Group B was won by Cara Corlett (Apollo Blinds Vikings) and Jessica Thornton (Fencibles) with May Ooi & Tania Thomas (Tynwald Celts) finishing second. The first semi-final saw Corlett and Thornton beating Garrity & Lloyd 21-15, 21-11 and the second saw Gardner & Domingo beat Ooi & Thomas 21-19, 21-16. The final was a tight game with Corlett & Thornton winning 21-17, 21-17.
The final event was the Men’s Doubles which saw an entry of 9 pairs. Group A saw Stuart Foley & Alex Lambie (Athol Park Guest House Castletown) winning the group unbeaten and Juan Domingo & Tommy Cheng finishing second. Group B saw the final match John Quinn & Ian Rusaina (both Marown) facing Ben Kneale & Juan Corrin (Fencibles) with both couples unbeaten. In a very close match Kneale & Corrin won 21-17, 16-21, 21-18 to win the Group with Quinn & Rusaina finishing second. Both semi-finals were tight games with Quinn & Rusaina beating Foley & Lambie 22-20, 21-18 and Kneale & Corrin beating Domingo & Cheng 21-176, 17-21, 21-18. Despite having lost the group match Quinn & Rusaina won the final against Kneale & Corrin 21-15, 21-18.
Many thanks to the Umpires for the two weekends, Caroline Whitehead and David Craig and also to the NSC.
The next Tournament is the Handicaps which is being held at the NSC on Sunday 3rd March 2024 (Mixed Doubles) and Sunday 10th March 2024 (Men’s & Women’s Doubles). Both events are at the different time of 12-00pm until 6-00pm.
