Woods girls compete in top Dutch tournament

The local girls have been swapping their experiences with their sisters Chloe and Paige who had been sweeping the boards in the 50th Anniversary Spar Christmas Tournament at their home club of Alpha.

Rachael and Rebecca, both aged 12, attend Hunterhouse College and were competing in a competition which can boast of an entry of 600 from 20 nations and the youngsters from Lisburn certainly did their club, their parents Trevor and Alison, and their future standings in the game no harm at all.

With such a large entry in the under 13 singles they had to play in separate round-robin qualifying groups with Rebecca recording straight sets victories over Hannah Jaenichen (Germany) 21-6 21-7 and followed this up with a 21-18 21-14 win over the French youngster Manon Goldlippe.

Further progress for Rebecca however, came to an end in the opening round to Bregje van der Aar 21-16 21-12.

Rachael similarly negotiated the qualifiers with consummate ease beating Anne Dols 21-14 21-11 and the German youngster Katherina Rohbeck 21-7 2-9 only to find her French opponent Yafa Abu Hijleh a gifted player. Nevertheless it was the Alpha youngster who was to take control of the first set and eventually took a one set lead 21-16. The final set became quite frantic with both players unable to dominate and it was one which could have gone either way but the French player eased ahead in the latter stages.

In the Under 13 doubles Rachael and Rebecca were to beat the Dutch pair Femke Knipscheer and Amy Tan 21-19 18-21 21-16 for a place in the quarter-final with Mathilde Ahrens and Isabelle Kauffmann – the eventual champions - being pushed all the way as the 21-18 21-11 confirms.

In the mixed doubles Rebecca teamed up with England’s James Penver and they had a convincing opening round victory over the French pair Bastien Chailloux and Zoe Trigona 21-12 21-9 and had a straight sets win over Finn Achthoven and Amy Tan before a 21-12 21-16 clash against top seeds – and eventual champions - Troels Elting and Mathilde Ahrens in the 3rd Round brought their challenge to an end.

Rachael on the other hand teamed up with England’s Rory Easton and they progressed through to the semi-final where they had to face the mighty Danes who had brought an end to the challenge of Rachael’s sister.

Again the match could have gone either way in both sets and Rory and Rachael appreciate that they were very close indeed to causing an upset as far as the seedings were concerned plus they were that close from lifting the title themselves for the top seeds went on to a 21-15 21-16 win in the final.

Both Rachael and Rebecca have received financial support from Sport Lisburn and Rachael also received support from the Mary Peters Trust. Their trip to the Carlton International Youth Tournament shows just how important and valuable this financial support can be.