Bolton News Badminton Report - 13th January 2020

Play resumed after the Christmas break this week in the Bolton Badminton League. Sharples B ninth in B Section hosted Deane B, close neighbours in eighth position with both teams desperate for points. The opening games were very tight but Kate Bridge and Nick Hitchen, Sharples’ first couple, managed to hold on to take both games 21-18, 24-22, against Patricia Beck and Kanti Mistry, playing second for Deane. The match then see-sawed in Deane’s favour when Georgina Ryding and John Cole, playing first for Deane, claimed both their games 21-11, 21-14, against Linzi Casey and Nathan Peddie. Margaret Wong and Pravia Pindolia continued Deane’s form winning both their games when the third couples met, 21-13, 21-17, against Janette Owen and Barry Hilton. Sharples’ Bridge and Hitchen then stopped the run of defeats by taking the first for Sharples, 21-18, against Ryding and Cole, who won the second 21-15, in the clash of the first couples. When the second couples met Sharples’ Casey and Peddie beat Beck and Mistry 21-15, 21-16, making the score level after the completion of the mixed games. The first game of ladies doubles was claimed by Sharples’ Owen and Bridge but Wong and Ryding reciprocated by taking the second game 21-14. Deane then showed their strength in the first pair of men’s games when Pindolia and Cole, claimed both games 21-14, 21-15, against Hilton and Hitchen, and Deane’s Wong and Beck also won the second pair of ladies’ games 21-12, 21-14, against Owen and Casey, claiming the win for Deane. However, the final pair of men’s games was shared between Deane’s Pindolia and Mistry and Hilton and Peddie for a final score of 11-7 to Deane.

Moorside A maintained their top position in their C Section match against second-placed Metro A. The opening games were won by Moorside’s number one pairing, Judith Standish and Chris Saunders, 21-17, 21-19, against Andrea Finney and Peter Holden. Metro’s first couple Jean Egan and Jatin Dusara then won both their games comfortably, 21-18, 21-10, against Amanda Bracegirdle and Steve Gittins. The match see-sawed back in Moorside’s favour when the third couples met, Jo Egan and Lee Bailey beat Joanne Holden and Jack Milner 21-18, 21-11. When the first couples met their games were shared as Metro’s Egan and Dusara taking the first 21-14, and Standish and Saunders winning the second 21-15. At the conclusion of the mixed games Moorside led 7-3 but Holden and Egan claimed the first pair of ladies games 21-15, 21-7, for Metro against Egan and Standish. Moorside’s Bailey and Saunders claimed the first pair of men’s games 21-17, 21-19, against Milner and Dusara, putting their team in the draw position. Moorside’s Egan and Bracegirdle then sealed the match by winning the first game 21-18 in the second pair of ladies’ games though Holden and Finney then fought hard to take the second 23-21. Metro’s, Milner and Holden then beat Bailey and Gittins, 21-11, 21-12, making a final score 10-8 to Moorside.