WMPC sees RAW Success with a Silver.
The PC entered two teams into the Inter PC in Manchester. For the last few years the WMPC have entered several teams into the event held over two days for the various Badminton England levels in each Performance centre. The levels being Raw, developing and Emerging.
This year was no exception. The PC sent two teams in this category. Team 1 Dan, Zafer, Rahman, Joe and Sana.Team 2 Abdur, Arush, Vaibhav, Rhea and Reva.
Format was 5 games per match, each game going to 21 plus setting, with the game order being Singles, Doubles, Singles, Doubles,Doubles. Each match would produce a winning team. All of the teams were split into groups. Team 1 in a group of three and Team 2 in a group of 4. Depending on the position achieved in the first round groups, this dictated the on which group each team went through to in the next round and consequently which position each team played for.
Team 1 first round was in a group of three teams, of three groups.. Team 2 was a similar format three groups but consisted of 4 teams..
Let pay begin. Not know what the strength of the opposition it was hard to pick the right team for each match. But saying that the idea was not necessary to win each match.(although it would have been nice), the idea is to give each player match experience. So teams picked giving each player at least one singles game.
Team 2 had some really tough opposition, the first round saw some close game wins 22-20, 21-19 and some close losses, 19-21,21-23, 21-23. They all fought for every point and concentration was key. A couple of the players I have not seen for a few months and was really impressed on their improvement. It was great to see. They got through to the second round to play for positions 4-7. Sadly the opposition were strong so we got 6th place. They did really well.
Team 1 again had some tough opposition, but managed to finish the first round as top of the group.So the second round saw them playing for one of the medal positions so RAW success was almost guaranteed. They had a sit off for the first round and watched Cumbria fall to a strong Potteries team. We played Cumbria next and bat them. So now playing for Gold or Silver the pressure was on, in what was effectively the final. The two singles games did not go as well as hoped, with heavier that expected defeats. They redeemed themselves in the first doubles. With two doubles left to play and the games score at 1-2 down we needed to win both to get gold. 17-21 saw the Potteries take the match 1-3 with the last game still to play. A close with 21-19 left Team 1 with a 2-3 defeat and Silver. Well done all on your RAW success. I hope you all enjoyed the experience.
