12 August 2024
Home hopes Sofie Chong and Lucy Dodd triumphed at the YONEX All England Junior Badminton Championships 2024.
Across four days at the University of Birmingham, some of the best under-19 shuttlers from across the world competed in the junior version of the world’s oldest badminton tournament.
In the women’s doubles, Chong and Dodd of England beat out the top seeds Mysha Omer Khan and Taabia Khan of the United Arab Emirates in a decider.
After a bye in the first round, Chong and Dodd beat fellow English pair Aayushi Dhelaria and Georgiana Gentles 21-11 21-7.
Then they came up against the second seeds Ishbel Mccallister and Brooke Stalker of Scotland in straight games and set up a meeting with another top seed.
This time they needed three games to beat the third seeds Saffron Morris of Wales and Carly Stevenson of England, reaching the final with a 21-14 15-21 21-19 victory.
In the showpiece, Chong and Dodd again had to show their mettle to withstand the fightback from Khan and Khan, winning the opening game, before the UAE pair responded to force a decider.
There, Chong and Dodd held their nerve to prevail 22-20 15-21 21-16 and win the women’s doubles title.
Mysha Omer Khan had already triumphed on Sunday having won the women’s singles title as one of only two players to feature in two showpieces in Birmingham.
The third seed beat out Suneri Chinthalapati of the USA 21-19 21-8 in the final to ensure she left England with a gold and silver medal.
The UAE had winners on two podiums with Bharath Latheesh and Taabia Khan winning the mixed doubles as the top seeds.
The pair dropped only one game on their way to the top spot of the podium, doing so in the semi-final as they beat Danish duo Aske Romer and Jasmin Willis 21-16 14-21 21-13.
Up against the eighth-ranked pairing in the tournament, James Song of England and Kaja Ziolkowska of Poland, Latheesh and Khan dominated the final, winning 21-14 21-7.
Having lost out in the mixed doubles final last year, England’s Dillon Chong made it to the men’s doubles semi-final before suffering defeat alongside Switzerland’s Zhi Lun Ong.
They were beaten 21-15 21-18 by eventual runners-up Aske Romer and Salomon Adam Thomasen of Denmark who lost 11-21 21-16 21-15 to Arden Quan Lee and Stanley Xing of the USA.
Second seed Tiago Berenguer of Portugal fought back to claim the men’s singles title, beating Sugi Sai Bala Singha Gopinath Singh of India in the final.
Having lost the first game, Berenguer responded well to force a decider and dominated from there to triumph 11-21 21-14 21-5.
Berenguer did not drop a game en route to the final and stood up to the test when he faced it to claim the title.
With special thanks to our Official Partner Yonex – the Official Equipment Partner of the YONEX All England Junior Open Badminton Championships.
Photo courtesy of Alan Spink.
