Sports: Reports - Badminton

The M&Ms badminton club has been provided with feather shuttlecocks and a sports hall for both recreational and competitive players. This year, there were many more people from Merton and Mansfield joining our club. We started the season with a 6-0 triumph over Brasenose and another convincing 4-0 win against New. Unfortunately, despite our strong efforts, Exeter/Queen’s beat us. Still, we became joint top of the Division 1 leaderboard, which was an improvement on last year’s result.

When Hilary term started, the even tougher competition, Cuppers, was about to begin. We tried our best to go through to the quarter-finals but were defeated by a strong team. The recreational and team training kept going till 2nd Week of Trinity term to prepare for next year’s programme.

Worawit Tangamornchaipattana (2020)
M&Ms Badminton Captain 2022-23

In the past year the Merton College Badminton Society has played competitively in University tournaments and held weekly training sessions in which members could practise for upcoming matches or just enjoy taking a break from their studies to play some badminton. We competed in the mixed league and men’s league tournaments and the Men’s Cuppers tournament, setting an ambitious task for our small team. We played many tough matches and although we struggled in the mixed league, we found our mettle in the men’s league and enjoyed success against Lady Margaret Hall, St Hilda’s and the St Anne’s/Wolfson team. In Men’s Cuppers we were knocked out by Brasenose in the top-16 round, denying us a place in the quarter-finals.

In 2018-19 the society will be in the capable hands of its President Matthew Davies (2015) and the newly elected Captain Sean Guggiari (2015), a familiar face to anyone who has played badminton at Merton in the last few years. I am sure the club will go from strength to strength under their care.

Ewan McCulloch (2014)
Badminton Captain 2016-18