OLIVER PLATT and Billy Prady took the top honour when Huddersfield Eagles staged their end-of-season tournament at Newsome High School.

They defeated fellow Eagles’ senior members Matthew Birkenhead and Josh Dyson 21-19 in a fiercely-fought final of the Under 18 section of the doubles handIcap tournament.

In total more than 30 players lined up for the tournament, which was split into two age groups, Under 13 and Under 18, with the early stages being contested on a round robin basis.

The standard of play was very high throughout, with handicaps ranging from minus 4 to plus 5.

Each game was played the first to 13, before they each then played one further game to 21 with all the points added up to give a total score with the top four pairs in each group going through to the semi-finals (one game up to 21).

In the Under 13 semis, Phoebe Pottinger and Hannah Bennison (scr) beat Max Clarke and Owen Douglas (plus 4) 21-14, while in the other semi, Mollie Ruttle and Joel Sartain (scr) defeated Jasdeep Sodhi and Lewin Prady-Loch 21-15.

For the finals the handicaps were re-worked and Ruttle and Sartain, still off scratch, beat Pottinger and Bennison (plus 5) 21-19, with both pairs swapping the lead with some excellent rallies and positional play.

Meanwhile, in the Under 18s, Platt and Prady (scr) reached the final beating Jacob Reynolds and Inveer Bhullar (plus 11) 21-15, while Birkenhead and Dyson (scr) beat Amy Crowther and Emily Crowther (plus 7) 21-19 to set up the final showdown.

Once again the lead swapped hands several times with some really good rallies before Platt and Prady finally took the honours 21-19.

The winners and runners-up were presented with trophies by coaches Mike Hall and Ron Mellor with club chairman Hall exclaiming: “We had a super turnout for the event and I’d like to thank all members of the Eagles, especially the committee, helpers and parents for their support.

“It was great to see so many parents supporting the players, who for many were in their first season of coaching.”

Kirkburton E stayed on top of Division V in the Huddersfield Badminton League following their 9-0 whitewash of Holmbridge C.

The visitors hopes were not helped by the absence of their third man, which meant they had to concede three rubbers straight away.

The closest clash of the night was in the opening rubber, where Andrew Berrell and Craig Pickering took Mike Cordner and John Mellor to three sets, but after that it was one-way traffic.

Berrell and Doreen Dewhirst won their opening sets against Cordner and Claire Ellam, but could not keep the Burton duo out in the next two, while Mellor and Gloria Goodridge maintained their 100% winning record in the Mixed this season.

Kirkburton E 9 Holmbridge C 0

Men: Mike Cordner & John Mellor bt Andrew Berrell & Craig Pickering 21-18, 19-21, 21-17; w/0; w/0.

Ladies: Claire Ellam & Diane Clifford bt Doreen Dewhirst & Maggie Lowe 21-6, 21-7; Ellam & Glorian Goodridge bt Dewhirst & Jayne Moore 21-16, 22-20; Clifford & Goodridge bt Moore & Lowe 21-16, 21-17.

Mixed: Cordner & Ellam bt Berrell & Dewhirst 18-21, 21-17, 21-17; Mellor & Goodridge bt Pickering & Lowe 22-20, 21-7.