The women’s first team rounded off a fabulous BUCS Finals weekend for Loughborough Students Badminton after defeating Leeds Met Carnegie 5-3 to take gold for the first time in seven years.
After an explosive semi-final that saw them come through victorious against Bath, the women’s side followed their male counterparts by taking on strong favourites and three-time consecutive champions Leeds Met in the final.
The tie opened up with a tough singles loss for Lisa Turner, but was soon levelled with a fantastic win by Nanna Vainio over England squad member Fontaine Chapman.
Doubles pairing Sam Ward and Jenny Day lost against Leeds Met’s Alex Langley and Lauren Smith after a tight first set but the tie was once again levelled by Loughborough’s Malaysian Internationals Hui Lin and Hui Ern who beat Emma Smethurst and Sophie Brown in two close sets.
With the tie level at 2-2 it was back to the singles for a highly anticipated showdown between Nanna Vainio and Anita Raj Kaur, who is undefeated in BUCS for four years. Vainio got off to a flying start winning the first set 21-12 and continued the fine form to win overall taking the second set 21-6.
The second singles saw Loughborough’s Lisa Turner take on Fortune Chapman. Turner continued her excellent form from yesterday and took the first set 24-22. Chapman fought hard to take the second set, taking the match into a decider but Turner battled hard through some long rallies but was edged out 21-16.
The set taken off Leeds Met’s Chapman proved crucial going into the doubles. If Loughborough’s Hui Lin and Hui Ern would win in two sets, Loughborough would win the title regardless of the tie ending in a 4-4 draw.
Hui Lin and Hui Ern got off to an edgy start with neither pair controlling the game. A few words of encouragement by coach Mike Adams at the midpoint interval seemed to spur them on and the two cruised to an easy two sets win.
With the title in their hands, although not content with just a draw, captains Sam Ward and Jenny Day rounded off the match in style sealing a 5-3 victory and ending Leeds Met’s consecutive title streak.
Captains Jenny Day and Sam Ward were “delighted” with their win. For Day this was her final BUCS Championship and she was “pleased” that she finally won the gold that had eluded her for so long.
