Swansea’s Ice Badminton Club, supported by the Swansea and West Glamorgan Badminton Association (SAWGBA), hosted the extremely successful first tournament of the 2008/09 Welsh Satellite Series, on Saturday 20^th September at the LC Swansea.

Swansea’s newest leisure and sports venue, LC, has been included within London 2012’s official Pre-Games Training Camp Guide. The £32million LC, which was formally opened by The Queen and Prince Phillip in March, has been selected as an official training venue for badminton, basketball and table tennis, and could now play host to some of the individual sports’ leading competitors in the build up to the 2012 games.

Next was the women’s singles, displaying all the skill and control associated with the discipline. Spectators witnessed some outstanding showcase badminton, with local favorite, Amy Genders, narrowly missing out to another Welsh junior star, Hannah Killick: 21-15, 18-21, 21-14.

The men’s doubles, usually seen as the show case event, did not disappoint with many extremely close matches, providing the power and precision play expected at this level of competition. With 48 men challenging the title, many top pairs were dispatched through out the competition. In an exhilarating final, the new pairing of Tom Burton and Vaughn Tovey eventually came out on top against the crowd pleasing pair of Darius Garnham and Martin Dix from Ice Badminton Club: 21-14, 21-18.

In the women’s doubles, the high standard of the day continued with many exceptional performances, eventually seeing the experienced pair of Sally Massey and Michelle Smith win the day against Helen Stoddart and Jordan Hart 21-18, 21-14.

The Mixed doubles; currently considered being GB’s strongest event, brought play to a close with a suitable finish to the day. In the exhausting final, the pairing of Andrew Woodland and Michelle Smith, won their second gold medals each, against the established pair of Tom Meakin and Sarah Griffiths: 21-19, 15-21, 21-11.

Ice Badminton Chairman and tournament organiser Barry Garnham said:

“I’d like to thank all the competitors for such a high standard of play and a great atmosphere throughout the day. Fair play prevailed, with extremely entertaining badminton and even some Swansea players reaching the top. The biggest thanks should go to all the event staff that played such a large part in making the day a success, namely: Ice Badminton’s Stephen Paterson and Welsh Badminton Union events co-ordinator James Phillips on sign in and match control, Welsh Badminton Umpire Lucy Temple as shuttle control and head court official, the team from Ice Badminton, Lucy Aspland, Dean Crawford, Ceri Morcum, Peter Barnes and the Richards Girls – Janette, Rebecca and Rachel, as court monitors and for all their help and commitment throughout the day. Without these wonderful people the tournament would not have been the success it was.”

The Welsh Badminton Union commented:

"SAWGBA started the season off with a bang with, gaining an extremely good entry to the first Welsh Satellite Series Event of the season. Hope this will be the starting block for a popular and successful season for all".

The full set of results can be found under the ‘EVENTS’ section of the web site and then by clicking on the Welsh Satellite Series on the left hand side.