Nail-biting WIN for the Women's Blues

Written by Varun Latthe - 13/02/2018

Badminton is a lot more difficult when you’re angry or tense (me 24/7 I don’t know how I’m still playing tbh). The badminton blues this week managed to play through this to secure a win against Nottingham - but in the closest circumstances imaginable. The team consisted of Sarah Collins, Chantelle Foster, Katie Clark, Kim Chan, Helen Briggs and Becky Donaldson.

The first match game was won easily by Collins, her fine form continuing as she dominated their singles player. This was fortunate as she had to leave early to attend a careers fayre (if you’re reading this and are in journalism Sarah is much better at writing than me and she’s fab at badminton you should really hire her).

The doubles games were tight with some dodgy line calls in the Briggs Donaldson game really ramping up the tension. Unfortunately both games were lost but not without (yet another, in 2 weeks ffs) 26-24 battle.

Chan then stepped onto court to play singles. This was another extremely close game with Chan bringing it up from losing 9-1 down, to winning the end. Unfortunately the 3rd went to her opposition but it was a valiant fight from Chan.

Briggs and Donaldson went back on for a dramatic match against the first pair. There was a bum injury and argues about calls. Nonetheless the pair lost out narrowly in the third end to a strong Nottingham pair.

With the score at 3-4 it all rested on Clark and Foster. They faced a consistently strong pair from Nottingham but were not phased. Indeed, the spectators on the sidelines were more nervous than them with captain Chan stating (more than once) that “she was going to puke” and Donaldson frantically texting someone more knowledgeable about “what happens if it goes to 4 all?”. Clark and Foster moved well attacking the weak backhand of the Nottingham pair. The Nottingham pair fought back with one girl getting so annoyed she threw her racket. Clark and Foster remained calm and finished the game in two ends. Making the score 4-4.

The hard-fought three enders came to our rescue as the game came down to number of ends won. Ecstatic Cambridge will now play Strathclyde (have Googled, is in Scotland not Wales) or Liverpool in the quarter finals.

#badminton #blues #womensbadminton #cambridge #nottingham