MJ Church ambassador Alex Lane reaches third successive final at England Nationals Badminton Champs

26 August 2018

University of Bath graduate Alex Lane narrowly missed out on defending his men’s singles title at the England Nationals Badminton Championships staged at Wycombe Leisure Centre.

The MJ Church Ambassador, coached by Peter Bush at the Sports Training Village, reached the final for the third successive year and took the first game 21-19 against Toby Penty.

However, the 2017 runner-up – the top-ranked player in the draw – hit back to win the second game 21-14 and was able to carry the momentum into the decider, which he took 21-15.

Lane, who graduated in Sports Performance this summer and was supported by a Trendell Sports Scholarship, had started his title defence strongly by beating Alex Dolman 21-9 21-19 and Rory Easton 21-14 21-10 on the opening day.

He then overcame Luke Pearce 21-13 21-5 before securing his place in yet another final with a 21-11 21-13 victory over Ethan Van Leeuwen.

George Nicolaou and George Priestman, who study Computer Science and Sports Performance respectively, reached the quarter-finals of the men’s doubles, where they were edged out 24-22 21-14 by Greg Mairs and Johnnie Torjussen.

Priestman also contested the mixed doubles with Molly Chapman, who is moving to the University of Bath in September. They were beaten 21-12 21-14 in the last eight by Matthew Clare and Viki Williams.

Click here for more information about the badminton programme at the University of Bath.

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