KINGSTEIGNTON Shuttles Junior Badminton Club has just held its annual end-of-season tournament for 2025 and as per previous years, the players were split into two groups.

In Group Two, nine players took part, with the top four going through to the semi-finals. Molly Swain, Lauren Peat, Dan Brassington, and newcomer Oscar Brown all made the semi-final lineup with all matches played to a first of 15 points.

Molly, who won this group last year and was looking to repeat that feat and lift the trophy again, was stopped in her tracks by a resilient Lauren. Their semi-final could have gone either way but Lauren dug deep and played some wonderful shots and won her semi-final 15-12.

The other semi-final was between Dan and Oscar, the handicapping system meant Oscar started on four points and this proved a little too much for Dan as Oscar ran out a 15-10 winner, meaning Oscar made the final in his first season with the club, could he go one step further and win the Group Two tournament though?

Lauren was certainly focused and quickly overcame the handicap that Oscar started with, it had the hallmarks of a nail-biter, but Oscar was fighting for every point and was playing shots from every part of the court with a never-say-die attitude. This was the difference between the two players and Oscar won the final 15-10.

Group two winner and runner up presentation for Kingsteignton Shuttles Junior Badminton Club
Group two winner and runner up presentation for Kingsteignton Shuttles Junior Badminton Club (Contributed)

In Group One, ten players took part and the final four were Sefa Keskin, Toby Bosanko, Haden Law and Theo Kelly, with Sefa trying to be the first ever person to retain the trophy in the history of the club!

Sefa had to play Theo in his semi-final, who he beat 15-12 in the group match. Theo started on seven because of the handicapping system and in an up-and-down affair, he caused a shock to win 15-11.

Toby and Haden went toe-to-toe in the other semi-final and the latter was laser-focused, winning 15-6.

The final between Haden and Theo was a classic, Theo with his handicap starting on five points.

Both players were winning points and Haden couldn’t close the gap, with some long rallies and brilliant shot play, both of them were giving it everything. When it went 14-10 to Theo in a first-to-15 clash, it only seemed a matter of time before he would get his hands on the trophy but Haden though had other ideas.

Knowing he could not afford to lose another point or make a mistake, Haden powered on and won the final 15-14 and with obvious delight on his face, to get his name on the trophy for the first time.

The sportsmanship award this year was given to a player who fought for every one of his points during the group matches and had the right attitude throughout, the sportsmanship award this year went to a well-deserved Llewelyn Craven.

KSJBC Sportsmanship award winner
KSJBC Sportsmanship award winner (Contributed)

KSJBC would like to thank all the coaches, committee members and helpers who give their time voluntarily- they are, Dave Hambly, Andy Peat, Chloe Hambly, George English, Les Owen and Kelly Brown.

They are the ones who make the tournament happen and, more importantly, have made the club so successful over the past fourteen years.

Please get in contact with club secretary Chloe Hambly at [email protected] if your child is aged 8-18 and wants to get involved. Sessions take place at Teign School on Wednesday evenings and the first one is free.