Minors captures nationals triple crown
unbeaten in three finals on the last night of the National Badminton Championships at BAA Gym on Thursday night.
First, second seed Minors upset top seed Steve Wellman 6-15, 15-10, 15-12 in the men's singles final and then teamed up with Randy Brangman as the top seeds to take the men's doubles title against Junior Durrant and David Wellman, whom they beat 6-15, 15-8, 15-13 in an exciting final.
Minors then joined Ailsa Campbell to beat Julie Durrant and Steve Wellman 15-12, 15-7 in the final. The winners were also the top seeds.
It was the second time during the night that Wellman lost to Minors, having given up a one-game lead to lose in the singles.
"He used a different strategy, serving a lot of low and short, and was able to dominate, especially in the first game,'' Minors explained.
"I was expecting that type of game from him. In the third game, I led the whole way. He ran out of steam and when he tried to change his game around he wasn't able to. It was too late. He would have beaten me if he had mixed his game up a bit more.'' The women's doubles final was one of the most exciting doubles matches in years as Shonette Wilson and Claire Norbury defeated Julie Durrant and Ailsa Campbell 15-10, 12-15, 15-10.
After sharing the first two games, Wilson and Norbury forged ahead 11-2 in the third game and then went up 14-9 and had four or five rallies before finally sealing the win, which was the biggest upset of the night.
Minors and Brangman, who are slow starters, paid an early price when Durrant and Wellman emerged as easy 15-6 winners in the first game as Brangman was pinned in the back court. Tactics changed in the second game when Minors switched to the back court and, after some long rallies, came back to win 15-8.
They employed the same strategy in the third game and led 14-10 but could not finish off their opponents until they had brought the game back to 14-13.
It ended when Brangman put a tight drop shot over the net and Wellman could not get it back.
Campbell and Minors stuck to their game plan in the mixed doubles final and came back to win the first game after trailing. The momentum carried them into the second game where they had little trouble as their opponents fell apart.
The women's singles final went according to form as top seed Julie Durrant beat unseeded Claire Norbury quite comfortably, 11-5, 11-3.
Norbury had earlier upset beat second seed Ailsa Campbell in the semifinals.
The next tournament is the schools event on March 4 and 5 at Saltus while the `B' Championships and `A' doubles are scheduled for mid-March. The Bermuda International Open Championships are scheduled for the first week of May.
