This year, the Mid Gippsland Junior Badminton Association is only holding a singles tournament due to lack of young-lady players. There were many entries in most grades, but sadly a dire lack of girls. Still many games were played and few had a late night.
The A-Grade boys draw had to be altered to a single round robin draw, meaning more games were played. There was a large contingent from Bayles which made for a competitive situation.
Kyle Cooper was undefeated through the night winning the tournament with Thomas Axnick coming runner-up.
With only three girls in A Grade, it was combined with the B Grade girls, which had only two girls entered. Young sisters, Claire and Katelyn were the best of the A-Grade girls with Katelyn beating Claire but when Taylah Stephens from B Grade played against Katelyn the upset handed Claire Young the A Grade title and Taylah Stephens the B Grade title.
B-Grade boys had the largest number of entries with a very high standard of play from all. Three finalists, Todd Ashby, Dillon Pratt and Stuart Ottrey played off for the title, with Stuart Ottrey winning 21-17 and 21-14, both Dillon and Todd equal runners-up.
In C Grade the boys played in two groups of three, the two finalists being Tim and Josh Bloye. In an exciting play-off Josh defeated his brother 21-18. The C-Grade girls played a round robin, best-of-three-rubbers to 15, with Jess Jolley becoming the champion – four-rubbers, to Marley Richardson’s two.
The D Grade boys played in three groups, the finalists being Jayden Hobday, Ben Patrick, and Andrew Hobday. The eventual winner of the final round-robin group was Ben Patrick, 21-9 and 21-8, from runner-up Jayden Hobday. The D-Grade girls played off in two groups with sisters Gillian and Katie Tucker coming out on top. In their final, Katie Tucker beat her sister, 21-13.
In E Grade the boys were put into three round-robin groups, the winners being Flynn Pallot, Tom Gadsden and Harry Notman. The trio played a round-robin final with Tom Gadsden coming out the clear winner 21-9 and 21-9 over his opponents, Harry Notman being runner-up. The E-Grade girls played in two groups with winners Kate Sanders and Megan Griggs playing off in the final, Kate Sanders the eventual champion, 21-16.
The Mid Gippsland Junior Badminton Association would like to thank all the helpers on the night, without whom the evening would not have progressed so smoothly.
