SHUTTLERS DON’T SEEM willing to part ways with the David King Memorial Championship. So much so they guaranteed themselves a third title long before the final.
The club’s ‘A’ side had to battle back from a daunting 2-1 deficit before Dakiel Thorpe and Andrew Clarke sealed the comeback in the men’s doubles over their ‘B’ counterparts in Saturday’s Inter-Club Badminton finals at the Barbados Community College.
It was Shuttlers’ third championship in as many years, following their breakthrough performance back in 2008.
But the only drama surrounding this title was to see if the ‘B’ team could pull off the unlikely stunner.
And they were actually on course to register the “upset” after the mixed doubles pair of Athelstone Forde and Tamisha Williams, along with men’s singles player Nicholas Reifer, had given them an unlikely 2-1 lead.
However, Mariama Eastmond levelled the finals by downing Tamisha Williams 21-12, 21-8, before Thorpe and Clarke sealed the title with a dramatic 15-21, 21-16, 21-14 victory over Forde and Reifer in the decisive last match.
Ironically, it proved the only contest to go the full distance as Clarke and Thorpe actually ceded the first game following a strong start from Forde.
The ‘A’ side responded by attacking Reifer’s backhand, and then Forde out of position by dropping the shuttle to him when he started to compensate for their initial strategy.
Thorpe and Clarke easily tied the contest before racing out to a quick 5-1 lead in the final game. Earlier, the ‘A’ appeared headed to an expected victory when their counterparts defaulted the opening women’s doubles encounter.
But Forde and Williams stunned the favoured pair of Kevin Wood and Shakiera Waithe in the ensuing mixed doubles, registering an easy 21-18, 21-17 straight sets win to level the finals.
And the ‘B’ side swiftly consolidated that victory when Reifer laid waste to Damien Howell 21-10, 21-7 in the following men’s singles match.
It was as close as the ‘B’ team got to lifting the trophy.
Pioneers ‘A’ defeated the Juniors’ ‘A’ squad 4-1 in the third place play-off behind wins in the men’s singles and doubles, as well as in the ladies doubles and mixed doubles. (PR/JM)
