KIRKLEES Youth duo Sukhjeet Sodhi and Sam Kershaw overcame a record number of entries to win the junior section of the Huddersfield Badminton League’s Handicap Tournament.

Fifteen pairs entered and played in three groups, with the winners and the highest scoring runners-up playing in the semi-finals.

Last year’s winners Oliver Durrant and Luke Robertson (scr) went through by beating Gianluca and Luca Margaglione (plus 6) 23-21, while Sodhi and Kershaw (plus 4) beat Kyle Smith and Max Lawton (plus 6) 21-13 to set up a final clash.

Sohdi and Kershaw easily took the first game in the final 21-7, but the defending champions hit back in the second to win 21-19.

Both pairs gave it their all in the third, with some furious, long rallies, but it was Sodhi and Kershaw who kept their nerve to win 21-12.

Meanwhile, in the Over 45 Veterans’ Mixed Doubles, Barry Goldsborough and Christine Berry from Beaumont Park were the winners, seeing off the relative ‘youngsters’ Nick Parojcic and Di Stewart.

In the semis, Goldsborough and Berry overcame Tony Ruttle and Brenda Hemmings, who had come together for the night to play after their respective partners had pulled out, while Parojcic and Stewart held off the defending champions Ron and Sheila Mellor in a tight battle.

In the final, Berry and Goldsborough (plus 12) lost the opening game 22-20, but calling on all their reserves levelled in the second 21-5. And they powered through to victory in the decider 21-6.