Richardson won double gold at Doubles Mania at GC Foster College in Spanish Town, St Catherine on March 25.
Jamaica’s national women’s badminton champion Tahlia Richardson is enjoying a purple patch, something she welcomes as she continues her journey in attempting to qualify for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France.
Ever since she won the Singles, Doubles and Mixed Doubles titles at the Jamaica National Badminton Championships in November last year, Richardson has been on a tear.
This past weekend, March 25, she won the Mixed Doubles and Women’s Open Doubles at the Doubles Mania Tournament at GC Foster College in Spanish Town, St Catherine. The 2022 Female Badminton Athlete of the Year partnered with Kenneth Anglin to win the mixed doubles over Antoinette Ingleton and TJ Hines and then teamed up with former national champion Katherine Wynter to win the Women’s Doubles.
She went into the tournament coming off a bronze medal winning performance with Samuel Ricketts at the 2023 Giraldilla International in Havana, Cuba from March 16-19. And, in February, she won the Tournament of Kings defeating Wynter in the final.
She credits these successes to the work she has been putting in to improve her game.
“I think I have done really well whereas my fitness is up, I am getting more technical work in and I am able to go to tournaments and perform,” she said.
“The bronze medal for mixed was good. We lost to Bulgaria who ended up winning the tournament so that said something about the level we’re playing at,” she said.
“For singles I made it to the quarter-finals, which is good (Olympic qualification) points. I had played the top seed.”
The improved play, she said, has helped her go deeper into tournaments, another sign of her improved play.
“I have been matriculating into tournaments better and better. Whereas I used to make it to the round of 16 now I am making it to the quarter-finals which shows that there is improvement and getting good points geared towards the Olympics in 2024.”
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Allison, Wynter claim open singles titles at week two of JBA Shuttle Showdown Tournament
Craig Allison and Katherine Wynter emerged as winners of the Division A Men’s and Women’s Singles Badminton titles, respectively, at week two of the Jamaica Badminton Academy (JBA) Shuttle Showdown at the YMCA in Kingston from September 21-22.
Allison secured the Men’s title with a 2-0 (21-18, 21-17) win over Joel Angus while on the Women’s side, Wynter dominated Alexandra Beckford 2-0 (21-9, 21-12).
The Men’s Singles crown in Division B was taken by Odray Sealy who came from a set down to defeat Jamie Lee Vernon in three sets (18-21, 21-14, 21-12).
Brianna Burke defeated Sue-Ann Ogle in straight sets (21-16, 21-18) to win the Women’s Singles Division C title.
In Doubles, Anthony McNee and Kemar Valentine defeated Kenneth Anglin and beaten singles finalist Joel Angus 21-12, 21-18 to take the Men’s Division A title while singles champion Katherine Wynter combined with Stefani Brown to add the doubles crown with a 21-14, 23-21 win over Alexandra Beckford and Breanna Bisnott.
Stephen Lue Yen and Aaliyah Walker took the Division A Mixed Doubles crown with a 19-21, 26-24, 23-21 win over Kenneth Anglin and Stefani Brown.
In Division C, Jorie McBean and Samuel Smith took the Men’s Doubles title with a 21-18, 21-11 win over Jhevado Ross and Matheus Smith.
Brianna Burke added to her singles title with doubles success alongside Zoelle Jamel as they defeated Dadrian Lewis and Davina Scott 21-19, 19-21, 21-10.
Burke added her third title of the weekend in Mixed Doubles when she combined with Chavaughn Schleifer to defeat Joseph Morrison and Zoelle Jamel 21-17, 21-18.
The age-group were as follows: U9 Boys Singles- Zamani Allen, U9 Girls Singles- Jillian Yap, U11 Boys Singles- Justin Dillon, U11 Girls Singles- Brea Grant, U13 Boys Singles- Ethan Grant, U13 Girls Singles- Ella Bella Palmer, U13 Mixed Doubles- Ethan Grant and Savannah Watson, Boys U15 Singles- Amir McBean, Girls U15 Singles- Leeya Dileep, U15 Mixed Doubles- Matheus Smith and Sue-Ann Ogle, U15 Boys Doubles-Amir McBean and Matheus Smith.
T&T, Barbados to battle for 2024 Men’s CAVOVA Zonal Under-19 Championship title; hosts Jamaica to face T&T in Women’s final
The teams that will battle for the 2024 CAZOVA Zonal Under-19 Men’s and Women’s Championships were decided in the semifinals of the tournament at the GC Foster College in Spanish Town on Friday.
Trinidad & Tobago and Barbados will do battle for the men’s crown after convincing semifinal straight set victories over the US Virgin Islands and Jamaica, respectively.
Despite finishing in three sets, the match between T&T and USVI was about as competitive as you can get.
Trinidad & Tobago won the first set 25-23 before taking the next two 25-21 and 25-22, respectively.
The match between Jamaica and Barbados was competitive for two of the three sets. Barbados won the first 25-20 before winning the second 25-21. The third set was the least competitive, with the Bajans winning 25-13.
On the women’s side, hosts Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago made it to the final after five set wins over USVI and Barbados, respectively.
Jamaica won the first set 25-20 before USVI levelled proceedings with a 25-19 second set win.
Jamaica were back to their dominant best with a 25-15 third set victory before, once again, USVI showed grit and determination to tie things up a 2-2 with a 25-23 win in the fourth set.
The fifth set was also close, with the hosts eventually winning 15-10.
Trinidad & Tobago showed grit and determination of their own in different circumstances. They played an excellent first two sets, winning them 25-21 and 25-16 to go 2-0 up. Barbados battled back, however, with a 25-23 win in the third set and 25-22 win in the fourth to set up a deciding fifth.
In the end, only two points separated them with T&T winning the final set 15-13 to secure a spot in the final.
The finals are scheduled for Monday, August 5.
Remaining semifinalists decided in Under-19 Men’s and Women’s CAZOVA Zonal Championships
The remaining semifinalists were decided as action continued in the Men’s and Women’s CAZOVA Under-19 Zonal Championships at the GC Foster College in Spanish Town, Jamaica on Wednesday.
The men’s side saw hosts Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago automatically book spots in the semifinals after winning their respective preliminary groups on Monday while on the women’s side, the US Virgin Islands and Barbados advanced to the final four as group winners.
On Wednesday, Barbados secured their spot in the final four of the men’s tournament with a comfortable 3-0 win over Aruba in their quarterfinal clash.
The Bajans dominated throughout the match, holding the Arubans to less than ten points in two of the three sets. The final score was 25-9, 25-11 and 25-8.
They will play Jamaica in the semifinals on Friday.
The US Virgin Islands will play Trinidad and Tobago in the other semifinal after securing their spot with a straight set win over the Cayman Islands. USVI won the sets 25-14, 25-21 and 25-21.
On the women’s side, hosts Jamaica secured a date with the US Virgin Islands in the last four on Friday with a straight set win over Aruba in the quarters.
In a dominant display, the Jamaicans held Aruba under ten points in each of the three sets. They won the first 25-7 before winning the next two 25-8 and 25-5.
The other semifinal will be contested between Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago after the latter defeated Curacao in straight sets in the quarterfinals.
The first two sets were hotly contested before the Trinidadians rallied to dominate the third set and secure the win.
They won the first set 25-19 before Curacao showed an improved effort in the second, eventually losing 22-25 before T&T won the third 25-14.
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