Lydia strikes gold in season opener

Lydia Powell struck gold at her first tournament of the new badminton season.

The 16-year-old from Hastings won the ladies’ doubles at the Hertfordshire Open, a Badminton England senior silver circuit event.

Seeded two, Powell and Viki Williams (Hampshire) had a bye in the first round before coming from behind to beat Denna Dawes (Surrey) and Joanna Newson (Kent) 20-22, 21-15, 21-9 in round two.

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They cruised through their quarter-final against Bethany McDonough (Essex) and Carl Staden (Sussex) 21-2, 21-7 before outgunning Nicki Chan-Lam (Yorkshire) and Victoria Sutton (Staffordshire) 21-11, 21-8 in the semi-finals.

Powell and Williams clinched the title by getting the better of Olga Bryant (Cambridgeshire) and Tracy Dineen (Essex), an England masters international and European Junior Championship runner-up in 1987, 21-16, 18-21, 21-11.

A very committed trainer and one of the fittest players out there, Powell also took part in the ladies’ singles, overcoming national women’s number 26 Toni Blake (Buckinghamshire) 21-14, 19-21, 21-17 in round one.

She then comfortably defeated Georgia Cattermole (Suffolk) 21-9, 21-8 in round one before being pipped by her

doubles partner Williams, the national number 24 and second seed, 11-21, 21-13, 26-28 in an epic quarter-final.

See Friday’s Hastings Observer for the full article.