Mens Feathers 2 – 7 University Students

Simon O & Simon T | Calvin B & Aaron G | David W & John W

Today’s excuse: We got so tired trying to battle through the traffic, we’d run out of energy for badminton.

The students had found a fresh batch of talent to replace those that left them last year, and we knew we’d have to be on top form to win today.

Calvin and Aaron ran them very close in the first game: 21-17, 17-21, 19-21, just losing their lead in the last few points. The Walker Duo also started strongly, with a tiring 19-21, 21-19, 17-21. In their second games, both pairs again went extremely close: a 20-22 loss for David and John being bettered by a 24-26 loss for Calvin and Aaron. Some excellent rallies to watch in both games kept the students at full stretch, but they had just enough each time. And that’s where both pairs peaked, with less tight final games meaning no points for either pair despite impressing the club members with their close finishes.

Simon and Simon took a different path. Much like our late arrivals due to the traffic on Darwin Lane, Aerohog was not ready to fly at 1900, and the Simons struggled to make double figures (or even hit the shuttle in the court) while the others were having such competitive games. But after a bit of a rest and some biscuits, they came up with a tactical plan to hit as many lucky frame and net shots as possible, and Aerohog was speeding down the runway. This seemed to make the difference, for they went on to win both their remaining games by narrow margins, 21-18, 19-21, 21-17, and 22-20, 21-14.

Thanks to our regular substitutes Calvin and Aaron for standing in for us again in place of Tipue and Gavin. Our next game is the away fixture against the same team next week, so we have only a short time to practise our lucky frame and net shots in preparation.