Paige is runner-up in Nottingham

Hot on the heels of winning Gold in the Girls Doubles and Mixed Doubles in the Connacht U17 Championships and a Silver in the Girls Singles, Alpha Badminton Club’s Paige Woods was competing in the prestigious Nottingham Gold Series and can be more than satisfied with her performances both in the very competitive Singles competition and the Mixed Doubles, partnering Dylan Noble.
Paige Woods had a superbt tournament in Nottingham recentlyPaige Woods had a superbt tournament in Nottingham recently
Paige Woods had a superbt tournament in Nottingham recently

First up for Paige was a clash against Yawei Li and the Hunterhouse pupil had to hit the ground running as her second Group G match was against Jessica Burden, the no 5/8 seed.

There was little between both players in the opening match and Paige was pleased to get through 21-17 21-16 in 23 minutes.

Her second group match was a very tight contest with neither player able to dominate but it was the young Alpha player who was able to secure a 23-21 21-16 victory and book her place in the main draw after just short of half-an-hour.

Paige faced a tough draw against Sofie Chong, snatching the opening set 21-18 before her opponent raced to the second 21-11 but Paige was able to respond and booked her place in the next round to be staged on Sunday morning.

Girl’s Doubles

Meanwhile in the Girl’s Doubles and partnering Emily Gillson, they were to snatch a victory in their opening Group D clash against Hattie Herbert and Holly Ranson, having found themselves one set down after losing the opening set 21-12 but were quick to find their form to level with the same score.

The decider was a different contest and, as the score suggests, they were relieved to get over the line 21-19.

Their next match was against the No ¾ seeds Amelia Ngooi and Rhea Ramarkrishnan and after a disappointing opening set, they were disappointed that they did not take the match into a third set, losing out 21-12 21-19.

Mixed Doubles

As the evening session get underway with the mixed doubles, Paige and Dylan Noble were only on court for 19 minutes seeing off Sanish Hathi and Aahna Bhatia impressively 21-19 21-16 as they knew that they would be facing a massive challenge in their next group match against the No 5/8 seeds David Ng and Grace Sachdeva.

Despite going one set in arrears 21-15 the promising Ireland pair were to step up their challenge by capturing the second 21-18 and dominated the second half of the deciding set to record a significant victory 21-13.

Sunday morning saw a really tough challenge against Hugh Simpson and Matilda Franklin, but Paige and Dylan were to meet the clash head on and recorded a really fine victory 21-19 24-22 though not for the faint-hearted.

Attention then moved back to the singles with Paige facing Sia Pandit in the semi-final and it did not take her long to settle down to the different discipline, romping through the opening set, to go one up 21-15.

The second was on a cliff edge throughout and Paige is probably still wondering how her opponent got back in to level and take the match into the deciding set 22-20.

The decider was again a contest of the highest order, one worthy of the semi but it was her opponent who was able to snatch it from Paige’s grasp by the narrowest of margins in 21-17.

Daniel Kemp and Lucy Dodd were Paige and Dylan’s mixed doubles opponents in the last four and despite going one set down (21-14) they never looked back to book their place in the final 21-17 21-9.

With Dylan having won the prestigious Singles title, Dylan and Paige faced Jia Bin Lee and Lucy Brierley in the final but were unable to wrestle the title from their grasp, losing 21-15 21-15 but this should act as a significant boost to both players as badminton makes a welcome return to the sports scene.