Dersingham Rising Star Jess among the medals

West Norfolk Junior Badminton players, Jess Bateman and Charlie Wakefield recently travelled to Warwickshire to take part in an under 16 Rising Stars Open Tournament.

Bateman, 14 from Dersingham, won a silver and bronze medal in the mixed and girls singles respectively.

The mixed was played in a knock-out format, with Charlie and partner, Caitlin Parfitt winning their first match against a Warwickshire pair, but losing their next round in a close three-setter, by just 13-15 in the deciding game.

Jess partnered Toby Dillingham from Berkshire, and they also won their first round comfortably, then defeated the third seeds in the semi-final.

They came up against the top seeds in the final and although they were easily beaten, they took home the silver medals.

In the girls singles, Jess won all her group matches to reach the semi-finals, where she unfortunately met the number 1 seed, Cara Collins from Cornwall. Jess gave the top seed a scare, taking her to three sets, only losing the decider by 8-15, to earn her a bronze medal.

Charlie and his partner Esher Bahara from Essex were unlucky not to progress to the knock-out stages in the boys doubles, after winning ttwo of their three group matches.

West Norfolk Junior Badminton is sponsored by Roythorne’s Garage of North Wootton.