All Jamaica National Badminton Championships

The 22-year-old 2023 CAC Games bronze medallist took the title after a three-set win over Katherine Wynter.

Richardson won the first set 21-14 before Wynter rallied back to level proceedings at one set all with a 28-26 second set victory.

Richardson then locked in and was able to dominate the third and deciding set 28-10 to seal her fourth title.

Despite the win, Richardson expressed to Sportsmax.tv that she was not entirely pleased with her performance, specifically a shift in her usual play style in the second set.

“It’s two-fold for me. In one sense, I’m glad I was able to retain my title and win my fourth national championship. In another sense, I’m not entirely pleased with my performance,” she said.

“In the second set, I changed the game plan and was playing more passive which is not my playing style. In the third set I played my natural game which is more fast and attacking and was able to dominate,” Richardson added.

Richardson, who recently graduated from the University of the West Indies with BSc. in Human Resource Management while minoring in Psychology, went a bit into her preparation for the tournament, noting the process was slightly hampered by injury.

“I had a slight injury two weeks before that so it was about working through that and ensuring that I would be at my best for the tournament,” she said.

“Besides that, it was just about doing strength training and on-court training and ensuring consistency in both,” Richardson added.

She also went into difficulties endured while trying to balance a budding career in professional badminton with the pursuit of her college degree.

“It was about being disciplined and knowing what I want,” she said.

“It would sometimes be difficult especially when face to face school resumed because I would be gone for a tournament or a training camp once a month or once every other month. But once I managed my time and was consistent with that, I was all good to go,” she added.

Richardson also claimed top spot in mixed doubles and silver in women’s doubles.

The 25-year-old Wynter was also crowned Women’s Doubles Champion alongside Bisnott and Mixed Doubles Champion with Matthew Lee to wrap up a successful championship.

In the Women’s final on Sunday, Wynter, who lost her title as national champion in 2018, said experience proved to be the deciding factor in regaining her crown as the best female player in the country.

“It wasn’t my best game as I am battling a knee injury so I wasn’t able to move as I normally would. However, I was able to use my experience and tactical awareness to come away with the win,” said Wynter, who triumphed 21-15, 21-9.

By comparison, Wynter said, the final Women’s Doubles, in which she and Bisnott faced the pair of Rihanna Rust and Mikaelah Mustafaa, was ‘fairly simple’.

“We won in two sets (21-14, 21-11) and in the Mixed Doubles we played Garron Palmer and Breanna Bisnott and we won in two sets but the second game was a bit more challenging as they were able to deuce the game at 20-all but we were able to come away with the win at 23-21,” she said.
“So, the second game was a bit more challenging but I am just happy overall to come away with the win.

“I am very happy and proud to get back the title of number-one in Jamaica.”

Meanwhile, Samuel Ricketts claimed the Men’s Singles crown with a straight-set victory over Matthew Lee. Lee and Joel Angus won the Men’s Doubles title over Albert Myles and Garron Palmer.

Rihanna Rust took the U17 Girls title in straight sets over Jade Ranger while Nathaniel Finzi won the U17 Boys title defeating Keyon ‘dr McBean two sets to one.

Rust won the U17 Doubles final with Cara Fraser defeating Brianna Webster and Gabrielle Bailey in straight sets.

Finzi partnered with Zachary Lim Sang to win the U17 Doubles Boys final in straight sets over Khalil Gregory and Omari Swaby.

The U13 Boys title went to Amir McBean who defeated Jelani Nelson in straight sets while Rachael Givans took the U13 Girls title defeating Haley DaCosta in straight sets.