Four Nations Tournament Report

Badminton England competed in the second annual graded four nations on which were Somerset Senior first team members Michael Brook (myself) and Graham Hutchings were selected to represent England G Team. The tournament teams were selected by Badminton England (BE) players within each of the BE grades E-H to play against counterparts from Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

The competition was held at the Welsh National Sports Centre at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff on the 2nd July 2022. We both arrived at the venue the evening before the event to have a hit in the competition  hall. Graham having driven up with a car load of holiday essentials, and myself with a four hour coach from London. The hall was made up of 6 blue mat courts, with three back to back and a large seated area for competitors and spectators. 

Arriving at the hall early on competition day we collected our team shirts and met our fellow team mates. Before play began all of the competitors lined up outside the hall with our flag for the opening ceremony, England followed by Scotland, the Ireland and finally our hosts Wales. Lined up across the hall, anthems were all sung, before each moving down the line to shake hands with all the other players.

Graham and myself were selected to play the men's doubles, so played the third game in each match. First up was Ireland. After teammates had won the first two games it set up the opportunity for us to win with a tie. After settling into the match the result was never in doubt winning the game 21-7 21-9 to put England 3-0 up and win the tie. Our teammates then followed up the results to win the women's doubles and the mixed doubles to start the day with a solid 5-0.

Next up were Scotland, despite a stronger showing in the singles we again found ourselves going into the match at a 2-0 advantage. An uneventful game was won 21-13 21-9 to again win the next match. Teammates again backed up these results to win the tie 5-0.

This left the final match of the day against Wales, who had also comfortably beaten Scotland and Ireland. The first match of the tie went to Wales  with an impressive win in the men's singles. A tight women's singles saw England come out on top after three ends. A much stronger match awaited us, with the Welsh fired up to win. The first end was hard thought, but we found ourselves better to win 21-13, Our opponents came out firing in the second, and we found ourselves down at the mid game interval. After refocusing  and a netcord to keep momentum up we managed to snatch the win with our opponents serving short at 19-20 down. The women's doubles pair lost a close match in three ends to leave the tie at 2-2. All down to the mixed to decide the winners of the competition. By this point other matches were finishing and a crowd began to gather around the court, cheering at every point. The match couldn't have been any closer with team England coming through in three ends to take the title!

Following completion of the games, the closing ceremony featured the awards. A clean sweep for England, winning all grades. Graham and myself can now confidently we were unbeaten whilst representing England.