International Badminton recently made a welcome return to the local sports scene with the sixth edition of the Malta International Youth Tournament, held over the last weekend at St Martin’s College, Swatar. The event focused on players under eighteen years of age

This year, the Tournament featured the participation of the “Wexford Badminton Club” from Ireland, led by Pat Lynch as well as by Jimmy and Miriam Butler. The “Whiteabbey” team from Northern Ireland, led by Trevor Brennan and Janet Ferguson, also took part.

Local participation was ensured by the B’Kara BC junior squad. Led by their coach Martin Farrugia, the team was made up of the following players: Maria Borg, Maria Mizzi, Fiorella Farrugia (captain), Samuel Cali, Andre Grech and Avner Vella.

The Tournament was run in strict accordance with the Rules of the International Badminton Federation.

It started with the Team Event, in which the three teams played each other on a league basis over a single round. Each fixture consisted of five games: Men’s Singles, Ladies’ Singles, Men’s Doubles, Ladies’ Doubles and Mixed Doubles.

Whiteabbey, who were undefeated in all their matches, won this event. They registered identical 4-1 wins over both Wexford and B’Kara. Maria Borg, who won her Ladies’ Singles encounter against Sarah Kerr over three sets, scored the locals’ only consolation point. Having won the initial set 11/9, Borg lost the second one 7/11 before regaining her composure to take the decisive third set 11/5.

In the match for second place, Wexford had the better of the locals with a marginal 3-2 final score. In this game, Samuel Cali and Avner Vella were the heroes for B’Kara. Cali first convincingly won his Men’s Singles game and then teamed up with Vella to take also the Doubles.

The second day of the Tournament saw the Individual event, in which all the Tournament participants took part in separate Men’s Singles and Ladies’ Singles competitions played on a knockout basis.

They were joined by two players from the Turkish Cypriot Badminton Federation, led by the Association’s president Huseyin Ozun Yamac, who travelled to Malta purposely to compete solely in this event.

The Northern Ireland players equally left their mark on this competition. Two of the squad players, Andrew McKee and Grant Gardiner, contested the Men’s Singles final. This turned out to be a very balanced match, played well by both finalists, which McKee ultimately made his own after overcoming his adversary 17/14 15/13.

In this event, Avner Vella made it to the semi-final stage where he was ousted by the eventual title winner, McKee.

Wexford’s Laura Lynch won the Ladies’ Singles competition by defeating Whiteabbey’s Judith Brennan 11/6 11/6.

In this event, Fiorella Farrugia advanced to the semi-final stage where she similarly lost to the eventual title winner, Lynch.

This international Badminton weekend came to its competitive end with the presentation ceremony, which was presided by Mrs. Janatha Stubbs who had earlier agreed to sponsor the overall tournament.

The local Badminton Association expressed its satisfaction at the standard of play shown by the locals, pointing out that such events served to further strengthen the existing good relations between Maltese and Irish badminton.

The Association also thanked Mrs. Janatha Stubbs, Emirates Airlines, Victor and Paul Darmanin of “Deutschland Minibus Services” as well as St Martin’s College for their invaluable assistance and support.