Hannah and Sarah Preece from Queens Badminton Club travelled to Derby on Friday 5 February to compete in the English National Badminton Championships.

Hannah had a tough first round match, narrowly losing 22-20, 22-20, while Sarah was successful in getting through the first round, beating Emily Beach from Hampshire 21-16, 19-21, 21-14. Sarah lost in the second round to Bedfordshire’s seeded player, Tsui Yee Lau, 21-9, 21-16.

Sarah said “My main goal for this season had been to get through the first round of the National Championships and I am thrilled to have been able to come here and achieve that goal.”

Nick Masson, Chair of Queens Badminton Club, also travelled to Derby to support the girls and as Sarah’s coach. Nick said “I am so pleased that Sarah has achieved this goal. There are several areas of Sarah’s game that we have been working very hard on in training and it was good to see those improvements paying off today. It is a highlight of my badminton year to be able to come to the Senior Nationals as Sarah’s on-court coach and it has been especially rewarding today to see her win her first round match.”

Hannah travels to Sheffield next weekend to represent the University of Bath in the BUCS Individual Championships. Hannah is Chair of the University of Bath Badminton Club and has captained their Ladies First team to victory in the Premier South League this season, where they are unbeaten.