The 2012 Cornwall County Under 17 Badminton Championships took place at Penryn College on Sunday 26th February with 92 entries in the 3 disciplines of Singles, Doubles and Mixed.
The day commenced with Boys and Girls singles .Kris Jasper (Launceston) was the hot favourite in the Boys and stormed through his box into the final. In the other two boxes Simon Cox (Wadebridge) meet Local Penryn College student Chris Cooper in the semi-final. Simon took early control of the rallies, Chris rallied later after the change of ends at 11 points but Simon took the game 21-10.
In the Final Kris the County No1 took early control, displaying his wide range of shots and continually putting Simon under immense pressure. First game to Kris 21-8. Simon rallied and a change of tactics made for a hard second end, Simon working extremely hard to keep in the rallies. However Kris remained in the ascendancy throughout winning 21-16.Simon had excelled and exceeded his seeding as no3 in the Tournament a great performance.
Kris is County Captain, and a very popular Boy within the County. His standard of play remains a level that all players aspire to achieve in the squad. He has travelled the National circuit for 10000s of miles with his parents over the last two seasons, trained at Queens Performance Centre at both Crediton and Exeter University and is due to compete at the National Under 17 Championships in March.
The Girls singles resulted in winners from two boxes meeting in a tense final. Abigail Logg (Launceston) the Under 17 County Captain and current no1 singles player working hard against Kellen Moore(Camborne) the Under 15 no1 singles player. Kellen ran out a worthy winner, edging away in both ends 21-16,21-11.
In the Doubles both Boys and Girls competed in one box. The Girls going down to a final game between Abi and Hannah Robertson (Callington) and Hester Luke(Penzance) and Kellen.
It was a worthy final with long rallies and great determination by both pairs. However Hester and Kellen had slightly more firepower on the smash and took the final match 21-16 and Championship title.
In the boys doubles the no1 pairing of Kris and Jake Brazewel l(Newquay) could not live up to their seeding due to Jakes obvious illness. However it came down to some very tense matches to work out the winning pair. Sam Payne (Callington) and Ben Johnson (Liskeard) at one stage looked set to take the title but on their heels was a new pairing of Simon and Toby Bamforth(Saltash). Kris and Jake thwarthing them with a 21-16 win in the final match in the box. The Eventual winners were Simon and Toby on a count back result, with Sam and Ben as runners up.
The mixed doubles had two boxes with a good spread of Under 15 players and Amy Polglase from the Under 13s competing against their elder county players. Some fantastic matches in the boxes with pairs just failing to met the final by a single point in each box. The final match of day was Kris and Abi against Simon and Hester. It was a great game of mixed with Hesters willingness to take the initiative and attack mid court returns being the deciding factor. Simon and Hester taking the first end 21-16,Kris and Abi took an early lead and held it to 18 points but Simon and Hester increased the pressure winning 21-18. A fantastic result for an unestablished pairing who came to our notice with exceptional performances in early January at the Bournemouth Silver Badminton England Tournament taking a Silver medal.
All players competed hard but fair during the day and are to be congratulated on their performances. Thanks must go to Dairy Crest Davidstow for their continued sponsorship of our Tournaments and Penryn College for again providing excellent playing facilities.
Thanks to the following people who helped run the Tournament during a long day,Alison Cox,Jane Brazewell, and Alison Higgs,Kerry Sillifant and Cathryn Bick. A final thank you to Sue Gallagher whose meticulous pre-tournament work resulted in such a successful Championship.
Jon Wotton and Sue Cooper
Under 17 Team Managers.
