Uphill Badminton Club ended its winter season with a mixed doubles handicap tournament.

UPHILL Badminton Club finished the winter season with its in-house mixed doubles handicap tournament.

Four boxes of six pairs in each were played off, with the top two from each box qualifying to play semi-finals and the final on each night. This was followed by a grand final the following week.

The badminton on each of the box nights went smoothly. Overall, the handicaps were allocated well enough and were a credit to the members delegated to sort an order for the 12 pairings, with the range of handicaps this year being from minus nine to plus seven.

On the first night, Luke Morgan and Fiona Singleton (+4) and Paul Edwards and Rachel Harding (-9) got through to the semi-finals from Box A with scores of 103 and 102.

From Box B, Tom Higgins and Becky Halfpenny (-5) and Ian Gilmore and Emily Page-Symonds (0) got through with scores of 99 and 105. In the first semi-final, Morgan and Singleton played Higgins and Halfpenny with Morgan and Singleton winning a nail-biting game 21-19.

The other semi-final was just as exciting with some excellent rallies as Edwards and Harding worked hard to pull back their -9 handicap, only to be beaten 21-18 by Gilmore and Page-Symonds.

On the second night, Dave Holtby, paired with the experienced Maureen Matthews scored 93 points, together with Mark Edwards and Ellen Davis 105 points went on to the semi-finals from Box A.

From Box B, Matt Cole and Fiona Singleton scored 105 points, together with Matt Potts and Caroline Higgins 98 points going through to the semi-finals.

The first semi-final saw Cole and Singleton (-9) play Holtby and Matthews (+3). In this game, Cole and Singleton proved too strong and went on to win 21-12. The second semi-final, between a favoured pairing Edwards and Davis (-6) and the youth of Potts and Higgins (-3), was a close game up to 16, but then the youngsters pulled away to win 21-16.

The final produced some good badminton for the spectators before the favourites Cole and Singleton beat Potts & Caroline 21-13.

The grand final between Cole and Singleton and Gilmore and Page-Symonds again produced some exciting badminton with excellent rallies, before Cole and Singleton ran out 21-17 winners.

The senior club meets during the summer on Thursday nights at Wyvern Sports Centre from 8-10pm. Anyone interested in playing will be made welcome at this friendly club that organises a variety of social events throughout the year.

More information can be found on the club’s website (www.uphillbadminton.co.uk), or phone Paul Edwards on 07866 946422.