Woods lifts Glasgow international crown
However, she really had to call upon all her experiences of the past season when on Saturday she faced one of England’s top junior player players in Asmita Chaudhari for a place in the semi-final, having progressed through the qualifying round robin with straight sets wins over Eve O’Donnell 21-7 21-10 and Kelly Yip 21-7 21-4.
After having taken a one set lead 21-17, Rachael just couldn’t finish the match off as Chaudhari levelled at one-set all, putting the game into a deciding set which was going to be the first of three three-setters over the two days she was involved in.
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Hide AdWith Chaudhari seeded to make the semi-final and having won the girls and mixed doubles in the National Championships, the Alpha youngster was in an uncompromising mood to go out of the competition at this stage and having brushed off any rustiness after her break from the game she secured her place in the semi-final 21-13.
Up next for the youngster was No2 seed Rachel Sugden (Scotland) and another match which was to go to three and over forty minutes.
On this occasion it was Rachael who was again to take the opening set 21-16 only to come up second best in the second 21-15 and there was little between the pair in the deciding set before Rachael eased her way into the lead in the latter stages to book her place in the final against the top seed Winona Satish (India).
Rachael found herself one set in arrears after dropping the opening set 15-21 but played some of the best badminton of her season in the next two sets. She was 11-7 up at the break in the second though had to fight all the way to take the match into the deciding set 21-18 whilst in the third she held a 10-5 lead only to let that evaporate in no time and was 11-10 behind at the break.
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Hide AdShe then raced away to 19-14 only for her opponent to ease her way back again into the match and there were a few anxious moments before clinching the title 22-20.
Rachael partnered Rory Easton in the mixed doubles and the top seeds recorded a 21-10 21-17 victory in the quarter-finals over Don Henley Averia and Aditi Anil and then faced top Irish Junior Kyle Magee and Asmita Chaudhan for a place in the final.
There was little between the pairs in the opening set but Easton and Woods edged through 21-18 21-11 and were never troubled in the final against No2 seeds from Scotland Adam Pringle and Rachel Sugden winning 21-9 21-18.
In the team event Rachael and Rebecca were members of the Team Skyfall who went on to lift the Under 13 Team title beating Team Forza.