Woolford falls just short in British Open final

Solihull Arden’s Rachel Woolford came tantalisingly close to claiming the Women’s O50 British Open title this weekend at Colets club in Thames Ditton. The event attracted over 300 masters players competing in age groups from O35 to O80.

Woolford, seeded 2, came up against Hilary Kenyon of Cheshire in the semi-finals and after a slow start began to assert her authority to win 8-15, 15-7, 15-3, 15-5. The final saw her face off with top seed Rose Bamber of Avon who had also had a 4 game victory to reach the final. A titanic effort saw Woolford battle back fron 0-2 down to take things to a decider where she lost a nail biting finish to go down 11-15, 8-15, 19-17, 15-8, 13-15.

Marcus Hayes (Sutton Coldfield) reached the Men’s O35 quarter final before being pipped by 3/4 seed Mick Biggs (Middlesex) 11-8, 10-12, 7-11, 11-8, 5-11.

Nick Staunton (Leamington) went one better than his seeding to draw top seed and overwhelming tournament favourite Scott Handley in the last 8 of the O40’s. Handley coming through 11-2,11-4,11-5 and going on to win the title without dropping a game.

James Piddington (Kenilworth) lost in the last 32 of a tough O45 draw against Duncan Kynoch 11-8, 1-11, 7-11, 11-8, 4-11.

Andy Murray (Sutton Coldfield) won through 2 rounds to make the quarter finals in the O50’s where he came unstuck against top seed Andrew Cross, losing out 9-11, 8-11, 6-11.

Rustom Bativala (Edgbaston Priory) battled through to the quarterd of the O60 event before having to withdraw injured during his match with Robin Ridley.

Geoff Redfern (Kenilworth) made the last 16 f the O60’s where he faced Australia’s Jim Mobbs, Mobbs winning 15-11, 15-13, 15-12.

Roger More (Kenilworth) lost in the last 32 of the O65’s to Larry Grover 11-15, 12-15, 4-15.

Natalie Townsend (Kenilworth) had a tough draw against Women’s O35 number 2 seed and eventual finalist Amina Helal, going down in straight games. She put that loss behind her to reach the final of the plate where she was beaten by Cambridgeshire’s Kate Bradshaw 9-11, 11-2, 4-11, 11-1, 10-12.

 Full tournament results can be found here.