Kingsteignton Shuttles Junior Badminton Club held its annual end of season tournament and, as in previous years, the players were split into two groups.

In group two, 10 players took part with everyone playing each other in a league format with the top four going through to the semi-finals.

There were no real surprises other than Barney Stancombe making it into the semi-finals.

Barney, last year’s runner-up, had a six handicap in 2017, and this year it was reduced to two, but better players were expected to progress at his expense.

Elise Buttrey, Will Cain, and Georgina Hay completed the semi-final line-up.

All matches were played to 15 points instead of the usual Badminton England’s 21, with the handicapping system working very well again this year.

Elise beat Georgina 15-10 in the first of the semi-finals and Barney beat Will Cain 15-13 to make it to the final for the second year in a row – could he upset the formbook by winning it off a handicap? Something that has not been done since the club started in 2012.

The final was highly competitive and a great deal of skill was shown by both players.

Elise started well but Barney fought back and the unorthodox left-hander went one better than in 2017 and triumphed 15-12 to the delight of his family who came along to watch.

In group one, 14 players took part and again the top four progressed to the semi-finals – or so everybody thought.

Owen Ellis topped group one by winning 12 out of his 13 games, but a freak injury while playing football on Sunday meant he had to pull out, but because of his excellent sportsmanship he still turned up on crutches in support of the club.

Also absent was James Waite due to illness, which meant Will Bastow and Dan Aston made it at their expense, and joining them in the semi-finals were tournament favourites Matt Burgin and George Hilliard.

Matt beat Dan with some very good shot selections 15-12 in the first of the semi-finals, while the second semi went much the same way as George beat Will 15-11.

In the final, George upped his game and he played some delightful net shots for which Matt had no answer and went on to win 15-8.

Full report and more pictures in the Friday, May 18 edition of the Mid-Devon Advertiser.