THE Southend and District Badminton Association has held its second tournament of the year to help players get back to match fitness ahead of the league restarting in January 2022.

The competition took place at Chalkwell Badminton Centre with seven entries for the ladies doubles and nine for the men’s doubles.

The ladies double competition was formed of one group with each pairing playing two games to 21 points.

Mandie Breed and Tracey Haylett (-7) had the second highest handicap and had picked up three games from their opening eight when Haylett then picked up an injury.

They were unfortunately forced to pull out leaving just six pairs to fight it out.

Jan Watt and Judy Slater (+2) had lots of close games but were unable to pick up a win as they came bottom of the group.

Lorene Roberts and Emilie Muggleton (Scr) finished fifth in the group as they picked up four games and they were edged out of fourth by Dawn Muggleton and Liz Cullen (+3) who secured the same number of games but accumulated more points overall.

Ady Munro and Jade Timms (-18) managed to overturn their large handicap and win through in six of their games as they finished in third.

The top two pairings, Farnaz Siddiq and Vikki Walker (+2) and Corinne Telling and Kiv Walker (+10), both ended up winning eight games.

This meant that it would be their points total that would decide the winner of the tournament. Just eight points separated the two pairings but Telling and Walker amassed 205 points compared to Siddiq and Walker’s 197 meaning Telling and Walker were crowned the winners of the tournament.

The men’s competition was split into two groups, one of five and one of four, with the pairings playing the best of three games to 21 points.

In Group A, Pete Lewin and Dan Felix (-1) finished fourth as they were unable to win a game.

The remaining three pairings were battling it out to finish in the top two places and reach the semi-finals and they all picked up two wins.

Lee Scott and Matt Tonge (-24) and Adrian Watling and John Kindred (-6) both won five games compared to Russell Dobson and Matt Smyth (Scr) who won four, meaning the former two qualified with Watling and Kindred topping the group on points for.

Group B had five pairings battling to get out of the group and they all picked up at least one win. Andy McMahon and Nish Tanna (-4) finished bottom on points for behind Nish Solanki and Humaid Ghori (+3) after they both finished tied on one win and three games each.

Oakley Beaven and Dillon Young (+6) and Danny Peach and Ben Bradford (-5) both tied on two wins each but Peach and Bradford picked up one more game meaning they advanced in second place.

Raff Badrinath and Tom Grafton (-16) cruised to top spot in the group with four wins and didn’t drop a game in the process.

The semi finals and finals had to be just one game to 21 points due to time restraints and the first semi was extremely tight.

Watling and Kindred started just a point behind Peach and Bradford in the handicapping and in the end that proved decisive as the latter held that advantage to win 21-19.

The other match was a bit more clear cut as Badrinath and Grafton kept their eight point advantage to beat Scott and Tonge 21-14.

This meant the final was a rematch of the Group B encounter between Peach and Bradford and Badrinath and Grafton, which was a 21-19, 21-17 win for the latter the first time.

Despite Badrinath and Grafton going through the competition unbeaten up till that point, Peach and Bradford were able to avenge their group stage loss and won 21-19 to secure victory in the tournament.