FORZA Ulster Open 2018

With over players 127 player competing in the FORZA Ulster Open, Ulster U15 & Ulster U11 event it was a fantastic 2 days of badminton at Lisburn Racquets Club. There were a number of great performances across all 3 competitions most notably, Rachael Woods winning the Girls Singles and Ciaran Chambers winning the Men’s doubles in the Forza Ulster Open. Matthew Cheung winning 3 events in the Ulster U15’s. Jeffery Rong winning the Boys Singles & Doubles in the U11 event with Partner Kaden Tang, who also won the U11 Mixed Doubles.

FORZA Ulster Open

With a total of 58 players competing the level of competition across the event was very high and was evident by the number of close matches throughout the 2 days.

Fresh from competing at the U19 European Championships , 17 Year Old Rachael Woods battled her way to the WALSIN Girls Singles title. Seeded 2 for the event and after a bye in the first round, Rachael had a tricky opener against Bethany Wong and was caught a little cold in the opening set losing 21-19. However, she kicked into gear for the second and 3rd set wining 21-6, 21-14 to progress to the semi final. There she faced Leinster’s Orla Flynn and again was a similar opening set to the first round, losing out 21-14 in the first set. She raised her game in the second & third winning 21-19, 21-10 to progress to her first Ulster Open Final. In the Final she faced the impressive young Under 17, Sophia Noble who defeated the Top Seed, Kate Frost en route to the Final. Having started slowly in her previous few matches it was a different story in the final where she raced to taking the opening set 21-14. The second set Sophia fought back and sneaked it 21-19 after some great recovery shots under pressure. It was nip and tuck all the way in the 3rd with the younger player gaining more belief, however Rachael show great composure in the later stages of the game, taking it 21-19 and her first Ulster Open Senior title.

The WALSIN Men’s Doubles produced the match of the Tournament in the Semi Finals were Commonwealth Games athlete Ciaran Chambers & Lenister’s Mark Brady faced 2014 Commonwealth Games players Tony Stephenson & Tony Murphy. The ‘2 Tony’s’ played an excellent opening games taking the first set 21-11 from the Top seeds. Ciaran & Mark then bounced back in the second set taking it 21-17 with some great cut outs in the Forecourt from The Ulster man. The 3rd set was very close at the mid game break and continued this way for the remainder of the set with the game tied at 23-23. It was the Top seeds who held their nerve over the last 2 points and took it 25-23 in the 3rd set and progressed to the final. A great game from both doubles’ pairs. In the Final they faced 2nd Seeds Dan Magee & Sam McKay after they had a comfortable win in their Semi final against Callum Thomas & Jack Davis 21-7, 21-14. In the Final it was ciaran and Mark who buoyed with confidence after their Semi-final win who gained initiative in both sets early on and manged their lead to take the title 21-18, 21-10.

The WALSIN Men’s Singles final seen another match up between Mark Brady & Sam McKay who progressed to the Semi Final with wins over Callum Thomas & Scott Burnside respectfully. It was Mark Brady who came out the victor over 2 sets winning 21-13, 21-15. It was a very emotional prize giving for the Men’s Singles as the winner of the event was presented for the first time the New Ronnie Watt Trophy in remembrance of Ronnie, who done some much for Badminton Ulster over the years, who passed away earlier this year. It was great to have Ronnie’s Son, Michael Watt, to present the trophy to Mark.

The WALSIN Women’s Doubles was extremely competitive with many 3 set matches across the event even from the early rounds. It was Ulster’s Rachael & Rebecca Woods and Leinster’s Kate Frost & Moya Ryan who made it through to the final and as typified with the event was a very close game over 3 sets. The Young ‘Woods Twins’ came out firing in the first set playing some aggressive badminton and went on to take the first set 21-11. In the second set the Leinster pair came back into the match and sneaked the set 22-20. Gaining momentum from the 2nd set the girls came out strong at the start of the 3rd and raced onto a quick lead and maintained it for the rest of the set winning 21-11. A great comeback from Kate & Moya fresh of their Runner up finish at the Bulgarian International a few weeks ago.

The WALSIN Mixed Doubles seen 2 men from the Men’s doubles final & 2 women from the Women’s double competing to take the mixed title. Ciaran Chambers and Moya Ryan faced Dan Magee & Kate Frost in the final. Confident from their wins in the Men’s & Women’s Doubles events Ciaran Chambers & Moya Ryan started excellently and took the opening set 21-9. It was a tighter 2nd set with Dan and Kate gaining a foothold in the game and were stronger in the latter stages to take it 21-16 and progress to a decider. It was very close in the deciding set up to 18-18. It was Dan and Kate who carved out a 2 point lead moving to 20-18. The final point of the match was a great showcase for mixed doubles with great movement and shot placement from both pairs and it was Dan and Kate how took it and the title 21-18.

A Fantastic event and 2 days of Badminton in which all competitors and spectators thoroughly enjoyed.

Thank you to the Sponsors of the event FORZA Badminton and WALSIN LTD along with our Court Sponsor ICON CREATIVE.

Special Thank you to the Ulster Badminton Volunteers, Colin McClement as Match Referee, William Martin & Tony Clarke on the Tournament Desk and Bobby Cheung as Tournament Photographer.

For full results click here

For all photographs & videos of the event click here

Ulster U15 & U11 Open

Matthew Cheung continued his hot start to the season picking up 3 titles in the U15 Ulster Open along with a number of other great performances and medal positions for Ulster Players. Matthew won the Boys singles defeating Richard Kong in the final 21-7, 21-3. He partnered Robbie Frost for the Boys Doubles where they faced 2nd Seeds James Fleming & Richard Kong in the final. Matthew & Robbie proved to strong winning 21-7, 21-11 and Matthew taking his second title of the day. The mixed final was a bit of a family affair with Matthew & Chloe Woods take on Dylan Noble & Paige Woods. It was Matthew & Chloe who were dominate taking the title 21-8 & 21-11.

Chloe had a very good Girls singles event reaching the Semi Final losing out to eventual winner Siofra Flynn. In the Girls Doubles she partnered her sister Paige and reached the final with some great badminton over the opening round before losing out to another sister pair Neasa Flynn & Siofra Flynn.

Laura Bell played great to reach the semi final of the Girls singles losing out to Neasa Flynn. She also partnered Lucy Xu to reach the Semi Final of the Girls Singles. Lucy also had a good mixed event reaching the semi finals with partner Richard Kong.

Donegal Pair Callum Laird & Sam MacBeth had a great run in the boys Doubles reaching the semi final.

For all Ulster U15 results click here

Jeffery Rong topped his group in the Ulster U11 boys singles and went on to take the title 21-8, 21-11 against Deacon Cheung. He teamed up with Kaden Tang for the boys Doubles and again after topping their group qualified for the final. There they faced Corey Chambers & Robert Cowman with Jeffery & Kaden coming out on top 21-13, 21-15. Kaden also won the mixed event partnering Hannah Shochan after they won all their group matches to top the group with 3 points.

For the Ulster U11 results click here