National Finalists Badminton March 2025

WOW! The KS4 boys’ badminton have made QEGS history by being the first team to qualify for the national finals. The team achieved this massive achievement on Friday 7^th March, when they competed in the Regional Championships at Nottingham Trent University.

For the team to qualify for the national finals, they had to play four very tough fixtures. Each fixture consisted of 5 games, two singles and three doubles all games being played first to 15 points. First up, were the tournament favourite Loughborough Grammar.

This was an extremely tense match, as after four games played it was all square at two games each. The last doubles game would decide the winning school and also put that team in a great position to win the tournament. The points were shared evenly until the death, but eventually H. Kumar and R. Rai came out victorious winning the game 15-13. QEGS had won their first match 3-2 in games.

Next up was John Port Spencer School. The boys were full of confidence from the previous match and despite losing the first singles match; this didn’t stop the team winning the next four games. Two played, two wins. QEGS were the team to beat and the other schools were starting to take note.

Match three, was against Oundle who had also won their first two matches. The boys knew if they were to win this match, they had one foot in the final. S. Chingale got the team off to a flying start, winning the first singles game 15-11. But, Oundle responded straight away by taking the first doubles game, to bring the match level. Probably the most relaxed player at the tournament, H. Kumar was up next to play the second singles match. Harish was cool, calm and collective as he made light work of his opponent winning the game 15-6. Advantage QEGS going into the fourth game. However, Oundle would not give up, as they took the fourth game 15-12. Similar to the match against Loughborough Grammar, this match would be decided in the fifth game. Once again, H. Kumar and R. Rai delivered the good for QEGS as they won a nail biting game 15-14! That was a giant win for QEGS and a huge body blow to both Oundle and Loughborough Grammar.

Going into their final match against Redhill School, the boys knew three wins from five games was going to be enough to reach the national finals. Despite the pressure from on looking schools desperate to see QEGS fall at the final hurdle, the team were relentless of their pursuit of victory. They comprehensively won the first four games, silencing the crowd. Match over, four wins from four, QEGS were crowned Regional Champions!

The team were an absolute credit to the school and they should be very proud of themselves. Mr Cope definitely was! All five players were superb, but a special mention has to go to:

Beese, who stepped in for D. Miao (played in the previous round) had left the school. Morgan did not look out of place and played some fantastic shots.
Kumar, played beyond his years literally. Despite only being in Y7, therefore playing against some students 4 years older than him, Shivesh played with such maturity and calmness.

The team will represent the East Midlands at the national finals which will be held at National Badminton Centre, Milton Keynes on Sunday 30^th March.