Photo by Sophie Wiggins

Swansea narrowly lost 5-3 last year at the Welsh Institute of Sport and returned this year looking for revenge.

The higher ranked Cardiff went into the contest as favourites, currently playing in the top tier of the BUCS badminton competition.

But a resolute Swansea side left victorious thanks to a majority of the previous varsity squad returning to action once again this year.

Swansea captain Palmer faced off against Cardiff’s number one seed Ursula Szegner in the opening match.

Varsity veteran Palmer maintained her confidence throughout the match despite a determined performance from Szegner.

As her opponent tired Palmer seized her opportunity and secured the point for her side with a win.

Doubles pair Izzy O’Hagan and Rebeca Thomas were also supremely successful, winning both of their doubles matches against both the first and second seeds.

O’Hagan and Thomas moved swiftly and tactically throughout to secures the points.

Also competing at this year’s varsity fixture for women’s badminton were: Penny Scott, Sophie Ttophi and Pippa Rogers.

SWANSEA UNIVERSITY 5-3 CARDIFF UNIVERSITY

The Western 2B champions were no match for the higher-ranked Cardiff side.

Swansea’s solitary point of the day came in the doubles.

The partnership of Victor Pang and Jeongyih Ho were a force to behold as they took on Cardiff pairing Darren Wong and Oliver Digby.

Pang and Ho refused to allow their opponents any respite as they marshalled their side of the court.

While the day was relatively tough going for the Swansea side, captain Gorell looked a threat throughout.

Gorell put up a constant battle against Cardiff’s finest Dominic Brown but in the end was edged out in a tight contest.

Also competing for Swansea were: Barry Garnham, Sam Crossley, and Chris McMullan.

SWANSEA UNIVERSITY 1-7 CARDIFF UNIVERSITY

Existing members of the team welcomed new students at the two day Freshers’ event in which they managed to sign up around 170 students.

The badminton team setup consists of three men’s teams and three women’s teams, therefore assuring a vast array of  students the chance of competitive games in BUCS competitions.

However everyone is made to feel welcome in the excellent social training sessions on Friday evenings.

The club hires out half of the sports hall every week so that every single member of the club can train and more importantly socialise with the other players, which could be the reason behind the huge popularity and enthusiasm for the sport this year.

Alice Palmer, who has been a member of the club for three years and takes the position of Women’s captain this year, appeared overwhelmed with the rise in members this year.

Palmer said: “I was really shocked with the large amount of people who signed up this year.

“Because over previous years people usually only join if they already play at a high level so I was happy to see that the club obviously is appealing to everyone.”

Men’s first team captain Sam Gorell echoed Palmer’s words and is confident ahead of the start of the new season.

“I feel with all the new members the first team has become a lot stronger, I believe we can win our league and get promoted back to where we should be.”

The first single match ended in victory for Swansea’s captain Alice Palmer, but in the second her team mate Rui Lin was beaten.

The doubles pairings of Hattie Wade and Penny Scott regained the lead for Swansea before defeat for Izzy O’Hagen and Rebecca Thomas tied the match once again.

Swansea suffered a big blow in the second round of singles matches, when Palmer suffered an injury to her back.

After deciding to play on she was unfortunate to lose the match after an influential first match.

Two more single defeats left Swansea on the edge of defeat with two games remaining.

In the doubles matches, defeat in the penultimate game meant that all Swansea were now playing for was pride.

At that is what was delivered by Thomas and O’Hagen in the final match with a resolute victory over the Cardiff pair.

“Everyone played well, it was just unfortunate that we were not able to draw the competition in the end.” said Palmer.

Swansea University 1sts 3-5 Cardiff University 1sts

Swansea won last year’s meeting 5-3 and hope to repeat the feat this year.

And they have reason to be proud again this year as they built on their promotion with a third place finish.

Captain Alice Palmer believes the tougher games they have played this season will help prepare the team for Varsity.

“Cardiff are in the division above us meaning they will be very tricky opponents,” she said.

“But I see no reason for us to lose.

“The tough games we have had this year will have prepared the team for facing Cardiff.”

Palmer hopes for a strong turn out of fans for the games.

“We are lucky to have a bus this year which hopefully will be full of supporters” she said.

“We are the first sport on but to have as many fans there as possible would be great.”

The match will consist of eight games, four single matches and four doubles matches.

This year’s contest will contrast that of the previous year in which Swansea went into the match as favourites.

Despite a disappointing league campaign this season captain Sam Gorell is hopeful for success.

“It would be huge to get one over on Cardiff at Varsity,” said Gorell.

“Although we go in as underdogs to the game, I am confident we can take the fight to the Cardiff team and win.”

Swansea had a difficult season in the Western 1A league, finishing sixth, which meant relegation after just one year.

But Gorell is looking forward to some increased support this year from the Swansea fans.

He said: “We know we are the first sport on starting at 9.30am, but we need the green and white army to come watch us, having fans behind you makes a huge difference to the result of a match.”

The win means the gap widens between fourth and fifth place in the Bucs western 2C conference league to eight points.

Swansea thirds now face a struggle to remain in the league, but there might be hope for the side after surviving late on last season.

The thirds took the opening two matches, with Jeff Lai defeating Jason Yui 2-1 and Gary Gilkes defeating Simon Johanson 2-0.

Six consecutive wins followed for the seconds.

Stand in captain for the seconds, Craig Sadler, was pleased with the result.

Sadler said: “I’d like to think this was an expected result.”

Seconds pair John Lee and Adam Borrall impressed Sadler in particular, with strong wins.

Thirds captain Mark Edwards was happy despite the defeat.

Edwards said: “They kept the games tight, I couldn’t ask for more.”

Swansea University 2nds 6-2 Swansea University 3rds

Christopher McMullan, Barry Garnham and Sam Gorell reached the fourth round of the men’s competition before narrowly losing to seeded opponents.

Hattie Wade and Rui Lin reached the third round of the women’s before their exit in similar fashion.

Swansea’s biggest success in the singles was junior Welsh international Alice Palmer, who reached the last 16 before losing to the eventual tournament winner.

In the mixed doubles, the pairs of Jeongyih Ho/Lin and Seijun Wong/Wade made second round exits, while Gorell/Palmer lost in the last 16.

In the women’s doubles, Palmer/Wade, Lin/Penny Scott and Sian Adams/Rebecca Richards were all in action.

Men’s doubles pair Wong/Ho were unlucky to be eliminated in the first round while Garnham/McMullan suffered defeat against the fifth seeds, and Gorell/Sam Crossley went out to second seeds and favourites from Leeds Metropolitan Carnegie – the most successful university at the Championships.

Swansea received the “Spirit of the Competition” award for a second consecutive year.

Tour Captain Garnham received a lifetime achievement award recognising the fact that he has represented Swansea at ten consecutive championships.

He said: “I’m very proud of my team, always supporting each other at the tournament.

“Even if we don’t take home any medals, everyone takes home great memories and adds to Swansea’s legendary status at these championships.”

The competition saw 65 universities take place with 75 top British and international students in action.