7th European Senior Championships
Amersfoort (Netherlands)
May 15th to May 20th 2006
CONGRATULATIONS TO TONY EVANS FROM HARTLEPOOL ON
WINNING GOLD IN THE 55+ MIXED DOUBLES with MAUREEN RIMMER
& BRONZE IN THE 55+ GENTS DOUBLES with JOHN COCKER.
Below is
a report from Tony.
This was our first trip to the
Netherlands so Kath (my wife) and I set off to travel to the Championships from
Durham Tees Valley Airport on Saturday the 13th May expecting to
see, on our arrival, lots of clogs, tulips and windmills.
The flight was on time and we arrived at
Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport on schedule and duly transferred onto the local
inter city rail service to Amersfoort which was about 30 minutes away. Arriving
at Amersfoort after a diversion via Utrecht, even over there they have to
undertake rail-engineering works; we prepared ourselves for the first major
test. Would the transport be there to take us to our hotel? We were relieved to
see someone already waiting, a gentlemen from Latvia, who had also just arrived.
Much to the relief of everyone a mini bus soon turned up and whisked us away to
the Hotel Van der Valk in Luesden. Luesden is a small village just outside
Amersfoort, which was to act as the main base for the England Team for the next
week.
For the first time in a European Seniors
Championship there was to be a new ‘younger’ category of +35, although there
was disappointingly no +65 category. The English team consisted of over
seventy-five players and was to be one of the largest contingents from any of
the participating countries. This shows the vast amount of interest and support
for Seniors badminton in England. It really was good to see different faces in
the England team not only in the new age group but also in some of the ‘older’
categories.
Sunday was designated as a practise day
and gave us all our first chance to look in the hall, get a feel for the
playing conditions and see the layout of the courts. The hall had been set up
with a total of six courts arranged in two banks of three with no net between
the two banks. Most people took advantage of the practise time and although
from one end it was a little difficult to see the shuttle, because of the
ceiling lights, it was generally accepted that the hall was not too bad. Most
of us have played in a lot worse.
Play commenced as scheduled on Monday
and to the organisers credit the timings during the day were reasonably
accurate, a feature that was in evidence throughout the week up until finals
day. Due to the way the transfer bus was scheduled, to and from the Hotels, the
hall itself was reasonably full of spectators on most days. This made for a
good atmosphere with plenty of audience participation. During the week one
competitor from England was so keen that he and his partner even turned up to
play in an event one day early. In the early evening of Monday the organisers
had arrange for a short official opening ceremony to take place with school
children and trumpeters from Amersfoort making it a memorable event. However
Monday did see the start of the injury list with one Polish competitor
suffering from a torn Achilles tendon.
During the week most competitors took
the chance between their games to visit Amersfoort with its mixture of old and
new. Some even took the opportunity to take the canal tour which was a very
pleasant hour spent touring round the medieval sights of Amersfoort. For the
more adventurous amongst us Amsterdam was only a short train ride away and
again a large number of people took the chance to look around this magnificent
city. Some even found themselves, I’m sure accidentally, ‘window-shopping’ in
the, let’s say, more notorious parts of the city.
However back to the badminton. Friday
was crunch day with medals at stake. Dependant on success it was either a
Bronze medal or the chance on Saturday to play for Gold. England, at this
point, was way ahead of the rest of Europe in the race for the medals. We had
the chance for some 40 medals with Germany in second place with 17 chances and
surprisingly Denmark in third place with 13 chances. I had mixed fortunes. I
was lucky enough to get the opportunity to play for Gold in the Mixed with
Maureen but had to settle for Bronze in the Men’s doubles with John. During
play, in the semi finals of the Women’s +60 singles, the crowd went wild when
we saw the umpire issue a first yellow card when one of the German ladies
loudly uttered an ‘expletive’. Who said that Seniors aren’t competitive, what
would the grand children think?
Fridays schedule was to be completed by
6-00 p.m. as the traditional end of tournament get together was scheduled for
that night. After play finished we were all transported back to the hotel to
get ‘scrubbed up’ and then transported back to the hall for the night’s
entertainment. The hall committee had done a fantastic job transforming half
the hall into a casino, bar, dance hall and restaurant in the space of about
two hours. The buffet, which was provided by the local Chinese restaurant, was
excellent and the entertainment was top class with a mixture of ‘chorus girls’
and a live band providing dance music. For the more daring there was even a
chance to win (or more commonly lose) some money on the roulette and black jack
tables.
Saturday came. Play was to commence at
12 noon and no one was sure what the hall layout was to be, except that it was
to be reduced to three courts. The playing schedule had been split into three
sessions with twelve matches in the first two and six in the third and last
session. Each session was to be followed by its medal presentation ceremony.
I arrived at 10 a.m. as Maureen and I
were to be in the first batch of matches on court. The layout had not changed
so all six courts were still available for knocking up. From 10 a.m. until
about 11:30 a.m. the courts began to fill with people hitting shuttles. At
11:50 a.m. the courts were cleared and the atmosphere in the hall went very
tense. Then without warning the light were put out on the ‘back’ three courts.
Suddenly it looked as though the bad end, for the last five days, had just become
the good end.
At last 12 noon arrived and the first
three matches were called to the meeting area. Maureen and I took to the courts
amid a fanfare and enthusiastic synchronised clapping from the crowd. How
anyone could stay unemotional at this point is any ones guess. Twenty-Two
minutes later we were European champions, what a fantastic feeling. This was to
be the first Gold of the Championships, which fittingly went to England.
The matches and presentation ceremonies
went on throughout the day and it became obvious that, for the first time, the
timings had gone askew. The scheduled finish of 7:00 p.m. was going to be a
distant memory as play finally finished at about 9:30 p.m. This caused some
problems as most players had booked meals with other players for early in the
evening. Thanks must go to the Danish Team who provided a top quality meal and
showed great hospitality, at their hotel, very late on that Saturday night, to
a contingent of the English Team.
All the England players that I saw play
throughout the week did the team proud and whether or not they won medals they
were a credit to England for their spirit and effort. I do not wish to name
individuals but there were some heroic performances in many of the events. I am
positive that everyone had a great time and will take back many happy memories.
Perhaps the best memory to recall will
be the success of the England Team as a whole. At the last Seniors
Championships in Spain we finished second to Denmark by one medal. This time we
finished some seven medals in front of every other team. WELL DONE EVERYONE!
On a personal note
I would like to thank Kath, for her support, and my many training partners who
helped me in the lead up to the tournament. Because of a knee injury two months
ago I didn’t think I would be in the Netherlands so two medals was an
unbelievable bonus for me.
As for the clogs,
tulips and windmills I’m afraid I have to report some disappointment.
One man in clogs,
no tulip fields at all and only about six windmills in the whole nine days I
was there.
Tony Evans.
Hartlepool
English Medal Winners
|
+35 Age Group |
|
|
|
Gold |
Women’s Doubles |
Lorraine Cole & Tracey Dineen |
|
Silver |
Men’s Singles |
Chris Shepperd |
|
|
Men’s Doubles |
Keith Goodey & Chris Shepperd |
|
Bronze |
Men’s Singles |
Alistair Jones |
|
|
Women’s Singles |
Betty Blair |
|
|
Men’s Doubles |
Julian Priestley & Chris Wray |
|
|
|
|
|
+40 Age Group |
|
|
|
Silver |
Men’s Doubles |
Martin Haddon & James Teale |
|
|
Women’s Doubles |
Sue Crompton & Viv Gillard |
|
Bronze |
Mixed Doubles |
John Bowker & Kathy Isherwood |
|
|
|
|
|
+45 Age Group |
|
|
|
Gold |
Men’s Doubles |
Tim Hudson-Church & Eric Plane |
|
Silver |
Men’s Singles |
Jack Webb |
|
Bronze |
Women’s Singles |
Linda Wood |
|
|
Women’s Doubles |
Sue Hurst & Debbie Rigby |
|
|
Mixed Doubles |
Tim Hudson-Church & Debbie Rigby |
|
|
|
|
|
+50 Age Group |
|
|
|
Gold |
Women’s Singles |
Christine Crossley |
|
|
Women’s Doubles |
Christine Crossley & Christine Black (SCO) |
|
|
Mixed Doubles |
Bill Hamblett & Reggie Baker |
|
Silver |
Women’s Doubles |
Pam Dallow & Reggie Baker |
|
|
Mixed Doubles |
Peter Emptage & Pam Dallow |
|
Bronze |
Women’s Singles |
Reggie Baker |
|
|
|
|
|
+55 Age Group |
|
|
|
Gold |
Women’s Doubles |
Janet Fletcher & Sue Ely |
|
|
Mixed Doubles |
Tony Evans & Maureen Rimmer |
|
Silver |
Men’s Singles |
John Gardner |
|
|
Women’s Singles |
Janet Fletcher |
|
|
Men’s Doubles |
John Gardner & Peter Emptage |
|
|
Women’s Doubles |
Sue Whittaker & Maureen Rimmer |
|
Bronze |
Men’s Doubles |
Tony Evans & John Cocker |
|
|
Mixed Doubles |
Bob Bell & Pam Firth |
|
|
|
|
|
+60 Age Group |
|
|
|
Gold |
Men’s Doubles |
Harry Shadwick & Michael Coley |
|
|
Mixed Doubles |
Harry Shadwick & Brenda Andrew |
|
Silver |
Men’s Doubles |
Jim Garrett & Ian Brothers |
|
|
Women’s Doubles |
Beryl Goodall & Brenda Andrew |
|
|
Mixed Doubles |
Jim Garrett & Muriel Burgess |
|
Bronze |
Women’s Singles |
Beryl Goodall |
|
|
Mixed Doubles |
Ian Brothers & Barbara Gibson |
Final Medal Table
|
|
Gold |
Silver |
Bronze |
Total |
|
England |
8½ |
14 |
12 |
34½ |
|
Denmark |
6 |
2 |
19 |
27 |
|
Germany |
5 |
6 |
14 |
25 |
|
Switzerland |
3 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
|
Poland |
2 |
3 |
0 |
5 |
|
Israel |
1½ |
½ |
0 |
2 |
|
Netherlands |
1 |
2 |
3½ |
6½ |
|
Russia |
1 |
1½ |
½ |
3 |
|
Norway |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
|
Scotland |
½ |
1 |
1 |
2½ |
|
Bulgaria |
½ |
0 |
0 |
½ |
|
Sweden |
0 |
0 |
6½ |
6½ |
|
Austria |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
|
Latvia |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
|
Belarus |
0 |
0 |
½ |
½ |