Four have perfect badminton records

Press, 26 May 1979, Page 12

Four have perfect badminton records

Only four players have retained unbeaten records after six rounds of the A grade badminton competition this season.

Not surprisingly, two come from the Railway team, which at present leads the competition by 23 points. Geoff Miller, Canterbury’s top player, and Mike Nolan, who makes his Wisden Cup debut this season, are both unbeaten after six rounds of play.

None of Miller’s six singles matches have reached a third game and none of his opponents have managed to total 20 points in a match. The closest was Charles Wasley (Hagley I), who was beaten, 15-12. 15-7, in the third round.

The player who might have forced Miller to a deciding game was Paul Boatwood, the experienced South Brighton player. In their second round contest, Boatwood led Miller, 11.10,

in the first game when he badly tore ligaments in his right leg and has been unable to play since then. Nolan, playing No. 2 for Railway, has had a successful season, and deserved his call-up to the representative team. He

has a gritty, determined approach and on two occasions, against Ross Campbell (South Brighton) and Stephen Chamber# (Hagley

I), had to work hard for wins.

The other unbeaten players are Warren Edgecumbe (Knox) and, although she has played only four matches, Alison Ross, Canterbury’s topranked woman player. Those with one loss are Pat Duckmanton and Robyn Erskine, the other half of the Railway team, and the promising Hagley II player, Karen Bum. One player, Eion Kirkland (Knox) has had two losses. The leading doubles pairings are Miller and Nolan, Miller and Mrs Duckmanton and Campbell and his sister, Christine, all of whom are unbeaten.

Edgecumbe and Kirkland, and Miss Bum and her team-mate, Rosey Kerr, have suffered only one doubles loss. Interestingly, all four Hagley I players, Wasley, Chambers, Jenny Hood and Colleen Austin have had three wins and three losses in singles Play.