Jordan Hart’s Bid For Home Title Final Ends Just Short

Jordan Hart’s dream of winning on home soil came unstuck on the final day of the Yonex Welsh Badminton International in Cardiff.

The Welsh No 1 reached the semi-finals after despatching the No 5 seed, France’s Yaelle Hoyaux (21-18, 21-9), in the last eight. Earlier she had beaten Ireland’s Rachael Darragh (21-14, 21-13) and taken a mere 16 minutes to overpower England’s Emily Beach (21-4, 21-9).

Seeded No 3, Hart’s success meant she had to meet India’s No 1 seed Tanvi Lad in the semi-finals. She gave her a tougher than expected time in the first game, finally going down 21-18, before losing the second game 21-9.

Lad went on to beat No 7 seed Marie Batomene, of France, 21-15, 21-8 to take the title. The Welsh singles crown went to Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen as he squeezed past India’s unseeded RMV Gurusaidatt 21-16, 23-21.

England’s Michael Roe enjoyed a double dose of delight as he scooped the Men’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles titles. He joined forces with Oliver Baczala to beat French duo Eloi Adam and Samy Corvee, ranked four places higher than them at No 2, in three thrilling sets (21-23, 23-21, 22-20).

That win came just over an hour after he had helped Jessica Hopton win the mixed crown. The unseeded English pair took 47 minutes to pip the Danish duo of Soren Toft Hansen and Pernille Bundgaard 21-18, 11-21, 24-22.

Belgium’s Lise Jacques and Flore Vandenhoucke easily beat the Polish pair of Kornelia Marczak and Magdalena Witek 21-10, 21-15.