Last week saw our A and B teams face off against each other for a place in the semi-finals of the National Cup! Whilst both our U14As and our U16As came out victorious, all students performed valiantly until the final point.

We also hosted the county round of the KS3 Badminton England National Competition with schools from around Surrey visiting us in a round robin tournament. Once again, our U14As came out victorious after a busy afternoon, moving onto the regional round which takes place at the end of March. Both A teams are in touching distance of reaching the National Finals—we hope their continued effort and practice pays off!

After a busy last few weeks, two students wrote match reports on their recent success in the national competitions:

Thursday 2nd February was the first round of the U14 Nationals by Badminton England. At Wilson’s we hosted the first round and played multiple schools—Whitgift, Cheam High, Dulwich and Trinity. These matches were part of the Area Cup and every school there was playing their best, as only the winner could progress to the next round. Not only was there the pressure to win and progress to the next stages but there was also the pressure of time as we had to play every school there.

The matches kicked off straight away at 13.30 and only ended at 17.00. As soon as a match finished another began straight away. There was no time to rest! In the end, after many matches, we emerged victorious and, as disappointed as the other teams were (including the B team), we kept in mind that we had worked hard to get here, and we were also through to the next round!

Vincent (U14A team)

On Wednesday 24th January, after the badminton A team and B teams had progressed to the quarterfinals of the U16 nationals, we were matched against each other in which would prove to be a nervy and hard-fought match against our own teammates.

Whilst Rishik (B team) had beaten Nishil (A team) in the 1st seed singles match, I was playing Ansh in the 2nd seed singles. The first set went to him, after which I fought back and took the final 2 sets to give us the 2-0 lead and take the A team by surprise. With the momentum swinging our way, it looked as though we could overthrow the A team. However, the A team clawed their way back, winning the singles 3rd and 4th seed matches to make it 2-2.

Then it all came down to the doubles. Rishik and I were to play Nishil and Ansh, whilst Shubhransh (3rd seed) and Ethan (4th seed) from the B team were to play Pranjay (3rd seed) and Aarush (4th seed) from the A team. After the 3rd and 4th seed doubles match went to the A team, all eyes were set on us. The match was neck to neck, with the final score being 22-20 to the A team, who had snatched away the overall victory to win 4-2. It was a good performance from both sides, with both teams being competitive and fired up to beat each other.

Unfortunately, we were knocked out of the cup, but we will watch hopefully as the A team bring home the trophy!

Navaj (U16A team)