Leeds University ultimately lost out in the badminton despite a valiant effort.
The men’s 3rd team, despite winning a thrilling three-set match 21-15, 18-21, 21-19, lost their other three singles matches, although the margins were very fine. It was a similar story in the doubles, winning 18-21, 21-10, 21-8, but they were narrowly defeated in the other matches.
Leeds Met proved too strong for the men’s 2nd team, winning all the singles and doubles matches. There were some very close matches, however, with our 2nd doubles pairing narrowly losing 19-21, 20-22 and the 1stsdoubles going down 16-21, 20-22.
While the men’s 1st team found the going tough, the Women’s team managed to beat their Leeds Met counterparts. Having lost all their singles matches, including a three-setter, 21-16, 14-21, 13-21 and a nailbiting 20-22, 21-23 defeat, they stormed through their doubles matches to win all four in straight sets – (21-10,21-12), (21-11,21-14), (21-17,22-20) and (21-14,21-10).
In the women’s, Leeds and Leeds Met tied on four matches apiece, but due to the fact that Leeds won one more set overall, they claimed the women’s crown. In the end, the set claimed in the three-set defeat proved crucial.
Despite the overall result, there were many excellent performances from Leeds’ badminton players in some very high-quality matches.
Alex Bowmer