
Sports: Reports - Badminton
The Merton and Mansfield badminton team has had a very successful year, reaching the quarter-finals of Cuppers and winning the league outright. The combination of veteran experience with dynamic new talent proved a potent combination throughout the year. Michaelmas and Hilary terms saw the team participate in Division 1 of the men’s badminton league. We played five matches, winning four including a 5–1 victory against Pembroke, and 6–0 sweeps against Keble and Oriel. With the fifth match against second-placed Trinity ending in a draw, Merton and Mansfield comfortably ended up top of the table.
Trinity term was focused on Cuppers. We similarly started with a flying start, sweeping Magdalen 6–0. Unfortunately, our next match against a quality Wadham side saw us go out 5–1. However, our players should be very proud of how they’ve played throughout the year, as our performance was a substantial improvement on previous years. Aside from our performance competitively, the club remains strong with much higher attendance rates at our Sunday sessions, even after a late night at a BOP! The future looks bright, and we can’t wait to see what the next year brings for the club.
Jamie Ngo (2022)
Badminton Co-Captain 2023–24
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