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Photos: Julia Piotrowicz
York’s women badminton 1sts staged an excellent comeback to defeat Lancaster 6-3 and round off another year of White Rose dominance in the sport.
The away side began the stronger and took a commanding 3-2 lead. However, the White Rose, full of belief and determination, won the next four games in an astonishing turnaround to add to the men’s 1sts success on the adjacent courts.
At one point, it looked as though York would have to do without a badminton whitewash in 2013. The situation after five games was not pretty as York Sport President elect, Cassandra Brown, lost twice with playing partner Dani Farsiani.
The change of fortunes was no stroke of luck, but a result of the character instilled in the York players, led by captain Rachel Farrington, which has seen them achieve so much over the past couple of years.
York were slow to get out of the blocks, and Brown admitted she felt “really nervous” after her first game with Farsiani, which ended in defeat by Yinai Sun and Karman To by a marathon score of 26-24, 19-21, 20-22.
The result came down to a couple of points here and there, but the uncertainty spread through the York team. Farrington and Beth Cowell also fell to Lisa Turner and Sophie Campbell, 20-22, 12-21 in a gruelling encounter.
Alison Canon and Lucy Travers were under pressure to notch York’s first win of the afternoon, and they did so with great confidence to sweep aside Crystal Luk and Amy Dickinson 21-7, 21-6, reducing the arrears to 2-1 in Lancaster’s favour.
York were briefly level at 2-2 when the same pairing produced another efficient performance to beat Turner and Campbell 23-21, 11-21, 21-17.
However, Brown and Farsiani suffered their second defeat in as many games, being beaten 12-21, 15-21 by Yinai and To. Mid-way through the second set, an altercation lasting a couple of minutes broke out between the four players over the scoring and the outcome seemed to negatively affect the York pairing.
From there, though, York played their A game and came through a stern test. The home side levelled for a second time when Farrington and Cowell comprehensively defeated Turner and Campbell 21-9, 21-8; a sign of things to come.
The next two games were then played simultaneously as Travers and Canon matched up with Yinai and To, while Farrington and Cowell faced Luk and Dickinson.
In a situation which reflected the unpredictable nature of the match, the former pair won their opening set 21-17 while the latter lost by the same margin. The scores were then levelled at 1-1 in both games, before Farrington and Cowell won their decider, 21-11.
It was left to Travers and Canon to crown York as winners, which they achieved to the elation of the home crowd, seeing off Lancaster 21-18 in the final set.
The final game would not affect the final result, but Brown and Farsiani were determined not to lose a third time. They eventually won 21-15, 21-12 against Luk and Dickinson to add gloss to the scoreline.
A delighted Rachel Farrington told Vision afterwards: “I’m absolutely over the moon, everyone played out of their skin. We knew it would be a tough match but we’ve got a great team history and the standards are really high.
“When it was at 3-3, we knew we had to win at least one or two games. Neither of us knew what was going on in the other court, so we came through and won them both.”