Open Tournament 03/02/06   Entry forms for the Basingstoke Open Tournament to be held at Alton Sports Centre on 9^th April will be available early next week.  Copies may be downloaded from the league website and further copies may be obtained from club secretaries

Ladies Match Report - 03/02/06 After a series of defeats BH Pegasus in the Ladies 6 Division got back to winning ways with two successive victories.  The first of these, a 5/4 win at John Hunt School, was the first defeat of the season for leaders Viking. While the second was at home to a two pair Waverley team whom they beat 7/2, Amanda Marsden and Sue Lorraine won two rubbers against Waverley complimented by one each from Kim Street/Doreen Quilter and Lesley Acheson/Jenny Skilton.  Debbie Symes and Caroline Rodbourne scored the two rubbers for the losers.  Against Viking, Lesley Acheson and Kim Street won a maximum three rubbers supported by two from Amanda Marsden/Sue Lorraine.  Jane Halls/Karen Bayman won two rubbers for leaders Viking with Ruth Cairns/Diane Cooper and Susie Hubbard/Sara Haddow getting one each.  Sandra McDonald/Pauline Prior and Ellen Dennett/Val Wheeler won two rubbers each supported by one from Liz Roberts/Anita Haskin when Andover Sports beat Beechdown 5/4 at Andover.  Ruth Seward and Debbie Watkins recorded a maximum for Beechdown with Karen Southwell/Sandra Smith chipping in with the fourth rubber.   

Karen Causley, Sue Clarke, Louise Phillips and Ann Viney were the four Andover ladies who beat visiting Beechdown 6/0 in the Ladies Division 4 to maintain their unbeaten run for the season.

Mens Match Report - 03/02/06  After a 5/4 away victory over Andover Sports A, BH Pegasus A are now equal third in the Mens Division 1 table with their opponents behind Beechdown A and Viking A.  Andy Lang/Jonathan Phillips won two of the winner’s rubbers as did Martin Davey/David Burrell with Martin Hill and Kevin Harris contributing one.  Shaun McDonald and Emerson Cumberbatch scored two rubbers for the home team supported by one each from Chris Clarke/Ian Swatton and Paul Williams/Geriant Griffiths.  In the same division Andover Sports B entertained Aldermaston to emerge 7/2 winners.  Stephen Gaunt/Lawrence Sutton and David Lowe/Rod Jenkins won a rubber each for the losing visitors while Mark Tilson/Nick Gladwin and Peter Cowmeadow/Paul Williams kept clean sheets for the home side supplemented by one rubber from David Fairclough/Andy Kinge.  

The meeting of the top two teams in Division 2 resulted in a 6/3 away victory for Viking B over BH Pegasus B.  Maxima from Graeme Berry/Scott Wilkins and Ian Shoard/Simon Williamson gave Viking B the 6 points while each of the home side’s pairs Phasanth Kumaran/Nick Harvey, Alex Groom/Kevin Harris and Steve Glover/Dale Turpin won one rubber.  With the nine points from a 9/0 win against Alresford Firefly kept their promotion hope alive by getting into third place in the table just 2 points behind BH Pegasus B and with a match in hand.  The match between these two teams late next week could well determine who gets the second promotion spot.  The winning Firefly team was Phil Pike/Scott Armstead, Steve Webb/Gary Leach and Colin Pink/Mick Turrell.

Mixed Match Report - 03/02/06   The match between BH Pegasus B and their A team resulted in a 7/2 victory for latter to bring them level with Viking A in equal second place behind Beechdown A in the table.  Andy Lang/Sue Lorraine and Martin Davey/Linda Rapacioli won a rubber each for the B side with Jonathan Phillips/Lesley Acheson getting three rubbers for the A team supplemented by two each from David Burrell/Kim Street and Martin Hill/Amanda Marsden.  At John Hunt School Viking A managed a 6/3 victory over Andover Sports A with both Tim Cooper/Susie Hubbard and James Bevis/Rachel Phillips scoring maxima.  Each of the visiting pairs, Shaun McDonald/Liz Roberts, Damien Roberts/Pauline Prior and Emerson Cumberbatch/Sandra McDonald won a solitary rubber.  

Aldermaston A and LoddonSherpas A fought out a close match at Aldermaston in Division 2 with the visitors finally winning 5/4 despite a maximum from the home side’s Lawrence Sutton/Julie Ward supported by one rubber from David Lowe/Sandra Page.  Ian Young/Stephanie Matthews and Seth Ball/Cheryl Matthews won two rubbers each for LoddonSherpas A with Matthew Frost/Hayley Kopp getting the vital fifth.  

There were three Division 5 matches involving Andover reported this week. In the first, played back in November they beat visiting Phoenix B 9/0, then earlier this month they lost to near neighbours Andover Sports B 6/3 and finally last week beat Phoenix B again, this time at Sherfield School 8/1.  In the November match their team was Chris Woodgate/Louise Phillips, Martin Roberts/Ann Viney and Alan Dixon/Laura Thomas.  Martin Roberts/Karen Causley, Ivor Brojek/Louise Phillips won their three rubbers in the second match against Phoenix B with Colin McIntyre/Laura Thomas securing the other two.  Chris Clarke/Val Wheeler scored a maximum for Andover Sports B with Graham Woodrow/Anita Haskin getting two rubbers and Ian Swatton/Liz Jones the sixth in the 6/3 away victory over Andover.  Jim Daly and Maureen Hudson won two of the home sides three rubbers while Geoff Lewis/Louise Phillips got the third.   With only two matches still to play unbeaten Andover Sports B look assured of the top spot in the table with second place between Andover and LoddonSherpas C with the latter having more difficult matches than the former still to come

Veterans Badminton 03/02/06   In early January Tony Coombes. John Davis, Paul Williams, Horace Mitchell, Diane Cooper, Pauline Prior and Pauline Davis were some of the local players who took part in the veterans Inter-County Championships at Worthing Leisure Centre.  Each age group team consisted of one Ladies pair, one Mens pair and two Mixed pairs.  Hampshire won the Over 40s and the Over 65s.  In some recent veteran league games and tournaments as well as the players mentioned above Peter Seward, Emerson Cumberbatch, David Burrell and Caroline Rodbourne have also taken part.  

The National Finals for the Veterans Inter-County Championships will take place at Hatfield on 1^st/2^nd April while the finals of the Veterans League are on 22^nd/23^rd April at the same venue