Yesterday saw representation for UWS at the BUCS Scottish Conference Cup Finals – hosted for the first time at the University of St Andrews. This annual event played host to 19 cup finals, across 9 different sports, and it was Team UWS Badminton who made the trip hoping for victory against The University of Glasgow having beaten Aberdeen in the semi-finals to make it to this round.
The final consisted of 12 matches – divided into men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles, and mixed doubles, with 4 men and 4 women making up the UWS team. The opening round saw Josh Neil, Robert Clark, Emma Cook and Erin Reid all involved in singles matches, getting the proceedings off to a strong start with 4 wins. This momentum carried through to the doubles round with further victories for the pairs of Josh and Robert, and Emma and Erin. This round also saw introductions to the match for Duncan Grant and Stewart Mobey whose victory notched up another point for UWS, as well as Emma Reid and Natasha Mackay who put in a very strong performance despite losing out to their Glasgow opponents. This then put the overall score at 7-1 in favour of UWS, meaning victory was already secured as they moved into the final round of games. However, this did not stop the team from maintaining their high level of performance, with victories for Erin and Robert, Emma Cook and Josh, and Emma Reid and Duncan in the mixed doubles rounds. Stewart and Natasha were also paired in this round, conceding their game despite playing well. This meant that the final score was 10-2 in favour of UWS – a convincing victory that was fairly representative of the performance that was put in. In addition to the 8 team members, there was also strong support present including Vice President of the Sports Union Dale Johnston, and President of Sport and Wellbeing Johnathan Cranstoun.
This victory comes at the end of a very successful season for the UWS Badminton team, however attention will now move forward to next week in Aberdeen, where the club will be hoping for more medals as they compete in the Scottish Student Sport National Badminton Championships.
Dale Johnston, President of the Badminton Club and Vice Presedent of Sport and Wellbeing had this to say on the win:
"What an amazing afternoon it has been for the Team UWS Badminton Team. Delighted and very proud to have been supporting a fantastic team performance today and also to have be involved with a wonderful group of individuals throughout the season. Winning the league and remaining undefeated in the Conference Cup to lift the trophy has been a real honour, and testament to the hard working positive environment we have had all season in training and in matches.
I would like to say a huge thank you to all of our team, club members and sports staff we have worked with this season. It has been so much fun to be the president of the university badminton team this season. There have been so many players working hard in training and in matches throughout this academic year in order to develop their skills and abilities, taking their game to the next level.
It has been a great day for the team, and a superb way to end such an amazing season! Congratulations to all who were involved in this fantastic achievement - Scottish Conference Cup Winners 2017!"