Badminton England are incredibly excited to announce that former world number one and YONEX All England Open men’s singles champion, Peter Gade, will be our VIP hospitality guest speaker at this year’s Championships in March.

Peter’s remarkable badminton career undoubtedly left an indelible mark on the sport. Winning an extraordinary 22 Grand Prix titles and topping the world rankings between 1998 and 2001, the five-time European Championships men’s singles champion became one of the sport’s most successful players in its rich history.

In 2024, the prestigious YONEX All England Championships celebrates its 125^th anniversary and badminton-lovers will have an exclusive opportunity to meet Peter in person and learn first-hand about his personal journey in badminton, from grassroots beginnings to all his title wins – all as part of our hospitality package offering at this year’s event!

During the Q&A sessions with Peter, hosted in our hospitality lounge at the Utilita Arena before the day’s play gets underway on both Saturday 16^th March and Sunday 17^th March, you will get an opportunity to get to know both the person and the player who achieved so much success with a badminton racket in hand.

What a way to mark 25 years since the great Dane’s 1999 victory over Taufik Hidayat at the All England Open in Birmingham.

And what better way to begin your day of world class badminton than by meeting a man who has lifted the YONEX All England Championships trophy himself?

Hospitality packages also include premium gold seats for day and evening sessions, complimentary champagne, a premier gourmet breakfast and now an opportunity to meet a former winner.

Click here to find out more and click here for general ticketing information ahead of the 2024 YONEX All England Open, which runs from March 12-17 at Birmingham’s Utilita Arena.

Click here to read part one, covering January-June!

Juniors took centre stage in July with Michael Pang triumphing in a dramatic men’s singles final at the YONEX All England Junior Badminton Championships 2023.

Dillon Chong partnered India’s Taarini Suri to mixed doubles silver as Chloe Dennis and Leona Lee won women’s doubles silver.

The best of the para badminton crop were in Sheffield in August as Dan Bethell beat long-time rival Pramod Bhagat at the 4 Nations Para Badminton International.

Elsewhere, there were silver medals for Jack Shephard and Rachel Choong in the SH6 mixed doubles, and Krysten Coombs in the SH6 men’s singles.

David Ng and James Song reached the quarter-finals of the 2023 European U17 Championships knocking out the fourth seeds en route to the last eight.

Jack Shephard impressed at the European Para Badminton Championships, winning two golds on the final day.

He partnered Rachel Choong to SH6 mixed doubles’ gold before winning SH6 men’s singles title as Dan Bethell added another gold to his collection.

Zach Russ and Rory Easton made their World Championships debut in Copenhagen, with English involvement ending the second round.

In the juniors, Oliver Butler won two silver medals at the Danish Junior Cup, winning mixed doubles silver alongside Chloe Dennis, before partnering Jia Bin Lee in the men’s doubles.

September saw Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith claim their first tournament win since 2020 with victory at the YONEX Belgian International.

Meanwhile, Jim Garrett stormed to double gold in a glittering outing at the Masters Senior World Badminton Championships in Jeonju, Korea with men’s doubles and mixed doubles wins in the 75+ age category.

The month rounded out with England finishing 14th in the World Junior Mixed Team Championships in Spokane before Robin Harper and Harry Wakefield beat top seeds in the individual competition at the beginning of October.

The middle of the month saw titles won on two continents on the same weekend as Harry Huang won the men’s singles at the Egypt International.

At the Dutch Open, Callum Hemming and Estelle van Leeuwen won mixed doubles gold, while Zach Russ and Rory Easton triumphed in the men’s doubles.

Huang then backed up his win in Cairo by taking the Hungarian International title at the start of November.

At the SCC Champion of Champions, Avon’s Magda-Sabrina Lozniceriu struck gold for the first time, making it third time lucky in the women’s doubles with partner Susanna Ogden.

Leona Lee stormed to the women’s singles title at the Spanish International as Nadeem Dalvi reached the men’s singles showpiece in Blanca Dona.

There were three reasons for Rachel Choong to celebrate as she won her fourth consecutive SH6 women’s singles, mixed doubles and women’s doubles titles at the UK Para Badminton Championships in Glasgow.

In December, Ben Lane and Sean Vendy reached the men’s doubles finals at the Syed Modi International in India while Nadeem Dalvi scooped the South Africa International in Cape Town.

On the same weekend, Greg and Jenny Mairs and Cholan Kayan reached their respective finals at the Welsh Open.

Johnnie Torjussen announced his retirement, going out as the reigning English National men’s singles champion.

Dan Bethell concluded the year in dominant form not dropping a game on his way to secure a brilliant gold at the Fazza Dubai Para Badminton International.

All eyes will now turn to 2024 with the Olympics and Paralympics on the horizon.

Medals, titles and some of the best shuttling action to date, badminton in 2023 delivered on and on and off the court.

With Paris 2024 around the corner, players began their campaigns to qualify spots for Team GB and ParalympicsGB, while Junior and Masters badminton flourished too.

A look back at the top community moments of 2023 will follow in the coming days but to begin with, here is the first in our two-part look at the best of the elite action from the past 12 months.

Things kicked off in January with a bumper helping of badminton action, across the Estonian International and the Malaysian and Indian Open.

To round off the month, Annie Lado opened up England’s international medal account for the year picking up two titles at the Iceland International alongside Abbygael Harris and Brandon Yap.

February saw Johnnie Torjussen pick up a third successive title in the men’s singles at the English National Championships.

Unseeded Kirby Ngan won the women’s singles as Chloe Birch and Jenny Wallwork joined forces for the first time since 2016 to claim the women’s doubles title.

Further north from Nottingham, England successfully retained the McCoig Trophy during the annual Masters duel against Scotland in Glasgow.

Marcus Ellis returned from a long lay-off from hip surgery to help steer England to the semi-finals of the European Mixed Team Championships and the Para squad kicked off their Paris campaign at the Spanish Para Badminton International as Dan Bethell made a perfect return to court by picking up men’s singles gold.

Bethell won back-to-back events in Spain as he kicked off March in style before the badminton world descended on Birmingham for the YONEX All England Open where Chloe Birch and Lauren Smith reached the second round.

Ben Lane and Sean Vendy bounced back as they claimed a bronze medal at the Swiss Open as they picked up their first BWF Tour victory of 2023 en route to the last four.

The month rounded out in spectacular fashion as the unseeded Steven Stallwood and Hope Warner reached the semi-finals of the Polish Open, as did Brandon Yap and Annie Lado.

Domestically, Middlesex were crowned Senior County Championships champions having suffered just one loss across their nine Premiership matches.

April saw Jess Pugh announce her retirement after a decade within the Badminton England set-up, including featuring at two Commonwealth Games.

Kristen Coombs won bronze at the Brazil Para Badminton International as Brandon Yap and Annie Lado, and Rory Easton and Zach Russ claimed singles in the Dutch International.

England took part in the Sudirman Cup Finals in Suzhou in May suffering defeats against Japan, South Korea and France.

Later in the month, Ethan van Leeuwen and Annie Lado were crowned mixed doubles champions at the Austrian Open in Graz

Off the court, Badminton England were presented with a White Cross of Honour from the Ukranian Badminton Federation for efforts to support Ukrainian badminton players.

Lane and Vendy returned to their seed-toppling best in June as they knocked out No.1 seeds Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto with a dominant 21-15 21-18 win in the opening round of the Singapore Open.

The duo eventually reached the quarter-finals as Callum Hemming and Estelle Van Leeuwen surged to the mixed doubles semi-finals of the Denmark Masters.

Dan Bethell returned to winning ways with gold in SL3 men’s singles at the Canada Para Badminton International as Rachel Choong and Jack Shephard won two medals each.

Junior players from across England were in action at the first-ever Disability Junior National Championships which was held at the English Institute for Sport in Sheffield.

On the international stage, several English shuttlers represented Team GB at the European Games in Krakow, with Ben Lane and Sean Vendy claiming silver and Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith winning bronze.

Sajan Senthuran claimed double gold at the Under 15 English National Championships 2023.

Senthuran took victory in both the open singles and doubles, to crown an excellent weekend for the teenager in Nottingham.

The open singles title came courtesy of a hard-fought win over Kalyan Manoj in the final, with Senthuran coming out on top 22-20 21-18.

Triumph in the final came after the top seed breezed through his group before beating George Clare 21-5 21-16 in the quarter final and Yixiang Hou 21-11 21-15 in the semi-final, as Senthuran went through the competition without dropping a game.

Further success came in the open doubles, in which Senthuran claimed gold alongside fellow singles finalist Manoj.

The pair were forced to a deciding game in the final against Joel Joby and Siddhanth Shirol, but eventually emerged victorious 21-15 12-21 21-14.

That proved the only game they would drop, as the pair won both of their group games and beat George Clare and Oliver Wu 21-19 21-12 in the last four.

The girls’ singles title went to Aahna Bhatia, who fought back from a game down to beat Rajvi Parab 13-21 22-20 21-15 in a thrilling contest.

The second seed eased through her opening encounters before getting past Laavanya Kirushanthan 21-13 21-9 in the semi-finals.

Despite disappointment in the singles final, Parab still left Nottingham with a pair of golds after earning victory in both the girls’ and mixed doubles.

The girls’ doubles title was clinched alongside Mia Fox, as the duo beat Anushka Ambrose and Jemima Ellis 21-15 21-8 in the final.

Parab and Fox did battle in the singles, with the former winning 21-6 21-23 21-7 to progress to the final, before uniting just an hour later to beat Anoushka Shetty and Lilly Mae Wood 21-15 21-14 in the girls’ doubles semi-final.

Parab then teamed up with Joel Joby to take the mixed doubles crown, beating Bhatia and Manoj 17-21 21-14 21-14 in the final.

In the Under-11 National Championships, Mutiara Mandala took victory in the girls’ singles and doubles in Nottingham.

Mandala did not drop a game on the way to singles victory, conceding just three points across her two group matches before beating Michelle Chen 15-8 15-8 in the final.

The duo then teamed up to take doubles gold, beating Sophie Chen and Saanvi Urs 15-7 15-10 to seal the title.

The pair qualified directly for the final after winning all three of their group matches, before defeating Chen and Urs in the final after they had beaten Varshaa Jegatharan and Nidhi Shukla 15-7 15-7 in the semi-final.

The open singles title was won by Amitesh Purushothaman, who beat Vihaan Nair 15-7 15-13 in the final.

Purushothaman was made to work hard for his title, battling past Neelesh Subramanian 15-8 13-15 15-8 in the quarter-finals before overcoming Jamie Choong 15-11 15-8 in the last four.

A second gold eluded him however, as he and Yichen Li were beaten 15-11 15-13 by eventual open doubles champions Nair and Jonathan Theivendran in the group stage.

It meant they exited before the knockouts despite a 15-9 15-4 win over Oscar Choong and Julian Hoi, as Nair and Theivendran marched on all the way to gold.

The pair got past Jamie Choong and Adam Yang 15-13 15-11 in the semi-final before beating Alvin Dinesh and Nitai Wijetunge 15-13 15-8 in the showpiece.

All pictures courtesy of Alan Spink/Action Photography

Thousands of local school children and young members of junior badminton clubs across the country have been given the opportunity to attend the YONEX All England Open Championships at Birmingham’s Utilita Arena in March for just £1 as part of a hugely successful ‘Kids for a Quid’ campaign.

The scheme represents a renewed commitment to engaging young people in all things badminton, a core strand of Badminton England’s new ten-year strategy – and a unique opportunity for the next generation of badminton to celebrate the most prestigious date in the badminton calendar in the Championships’ 125^th anniversary year.

This year’s YONEX All England Championships are again being hosted at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham, with the first shuttle smashed on Tuesday 12th March at the start of six days of world class badminton which will culminate in the final on Sunday 17th March.

Schools local to the Birmingham-based event are invited to apply for these exclusive £1 tickets and so far, over 80 schools have signed up since the scheme was launched.

Nearly 3,000 tickets have been applied for as part of the campaign and the offer has now been extended to a Badminton England affiliated junior badminton clubs which could see up to 5,000 young people attend during the first three days of the showpiece event, which is now less than three months away.

“This is a wonderful chance to inspire the next generation of badminton player and build on our existing engagement with the local community in Birmingham and the West Midlands,” explained Championships Director, Chris Miller.

“We want this year’s event to be a festival of badminton and, with so many young fans and aspiring badminton players being given the opportunity to watch the very best in the world come from all over the globe to compete on their doorstep, we believe this young audience will help bring the buzz to badminton in Birmingham.”

A combination of home favourites and global badminton superstars will be locking horns at the Utilita Arena in March, with reigning champions Li Shifeng (Men’s Singles) and An Se-young (Women’s Singles) among those set to be defend their crowns in the competition’s 125th anniversary year.

And it won’t just be the fastest racket sport in the world showcased by all the action on court that engages the young audience – as part of Badminton England’s aim to stage a festival of badminton during the week in the West Midlands, there will be fun, interactive activities in the arena and on the concourses tailored to a young, vibrant badminton audience in 2024.

And in watching the world’s best players in action, Badminton England hope to inspire potential stars of the future to pick up a racket and begin their badminton journey in school, at their local leisure centre or with their nearest junior club.

If your school or affiliated junior badminton club isn’t involved, there is still an opportunity to sign up for our Kids for a Quid campaign.

Simply ask your teacher or club contact to register their interest by clicking here.

18 December, 2023

It is with profound shock and deep sadness that we announce the passing of Mike Robinson, Chair of Badminton England’s Board of Directors.

Mike, who has been at the very heart of the development of our sport in this country since joining the board nearly a decade ago, sadly passed away on Friday evening following a brave battle with illness.

The thoughts, condolences and deepest sympathies of all at Badminton England and everyone within the badminton community are with his partner Fiona, his children, his family and friends at this very difficult time.

Mike’s impactful contribution to badminton aptly began on the court – a conversation with a serving board member, whilst playing for his local club at the National Badminton Centre in Milton Keynes, led to an invitation to join the Badminton England board of directors.

With in excess of 30 years’ experience with one of the world’s largest professional services firms, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Mike accepted and was duly appointed as Chair of the Finance, Risk and Corporate Services on 28th June 2014.

With a wide-ranging skillset and a strong well-respected international presence, he became a valued advocate and an ambassador for badminton in this country.

A Senior Partner at PwC, Mike retired in 2017 to undertake more non-executive director work and spend more time on the badminton court and the golf course.

He served as Finance Director on the Badminton Europe council for four years, also taking on roles of Chair of BEC Governance and Chair of BEC HR committee.

He was a Trustee of the National Badminton Museum and then he took on the role of Chair at Badminton England on 29th June 2019. Mike played club standard league badminton, for ten years was Chairman of the Chalfont & District Badminton Association and was also a Director of Badminton Wycombe.

Earlier this year, he had been re-elected at the BE AGM for his fourth term on the board, spending the last four years of that nine-year period of service as Chair.

Mike thoroughly enjoyed watching badminton as a fan, always making time to watch the game, attend competitions and tournaments and support our sport at every level.

Jackie Newcombe, Senior Independent Director at Badminton England, said “On behalf of the board, I’d like to express our deep sorrow following Mike’s passing. We are all the richer for having known Mike, both professionally and personally. An incredibly smart and astute man, I personally learnt so much from him – even though I always felt as though I was at least three steps behind him!

“His passion for badminton and his dedicated support for Badminton England shone through in everything he did, leading us through some challenging times with boldness and integrity.

“One of the most genuine, kind people I have ever met, Mike was always generous with his time, ensuring everyone was included and heard. He fought his illness with characteristic bravery and fortitude, even keen to attend and participate in meetings from his hospital bed. I know I speak for the whole board when I say that we all feel immensely privileged to have known and worked with him.”

Sue Storey, CEO at Badminton England, said “The whole badminton community are deeply saddened by the passing of Mike Robinson, a man who gave so much to the world of badminton here in England, across the United Kingdom and on a global scale.

“Mike always approached his strategic roles on the board with utter dedication, total commitment and boundless enthusiasm and, despite his roles being voluntary, he worked tirelessly to apply his vast experience and knowhow to help transform the organisation and the sport.

“Personally, I will be forever grateful for the trust he placed in me to appoint me as Chief Executive at Badminton England nearly two years ago. Mike expertly guided the board and the organisation through the highs and lows over recent years and was steadfast in his ambitions to achieve the very best for the sport in England.

“On behalf of the staff, athletes, coaches, volunteers, supporters and the whole badminton family, I’d like to thank Mike for his devotion to the sport we all love. Mike, you will be missed by so many, Rest in Peace.”

Jackie Newcombe will cover the role of Chair as Senior Independent Director and the board will appoint an Interim Chair in the new year – but for now the thoughts and sympathies of everyone at Badminton England will remain with Mike’s family and friends.

Mike’s funeral has been arranged for Monday 8 January, 12.15pm at Amersham Crematorium, with the wake at Berkhamsted Golf Club.

• https://www.chilternscrematorium.co.uk/home
• https://www.berkhamstedgolfclub.co.uk

Dominant Dan Bethell secured a brilliant gold at the Fazza Dubai Para Badminton International as he triumphed without dropping a game throughout the competition.

The Paralympic silver medallist eased through the SL3 men’s singles group stage, conceding just 17 points across his two matches, to set up a quarter-final against Thailand’s Mongkhon Bunsun which he won 21-6 21-14.

A tougher test followed against India’s Kumar Nitesh in the last four, with Bethell forced to show all his fighting qualities as he twice came from behind.

Trailing 19-17 in the first game, the Englishman reeled off four straight points to take the lead before coming from 13-8 down in the second to win it 21-17 and seal his place in the final.

Nitesh’s fellow compatriot Pramod Bhagat, Bethell’s opponent in the final at Tokyo 2020, lay in wait and a hard-fought opening game went Bethell’s way 21-17.

The 27-year-old was unstoppable in the second game, winning it 21-8 to seal an excellent triumph.

In the SH6 men’s singles, Krysten Coombs and Jack Shephard met in the quarter-finals after both advanced through the group stage, Coombs finishing second in his pool after being beaten 5-21 13-21 by top seed and eventual winner Chu Man Kai.

The all-English battle in the last eight was as hard fought as ever but Coombs edged it 21-18 21-17 before going down 13-21 13-21 against Frenchman Charles Noakes in the semi-finals.

Rachel Choong fell at the same stage in the SH6 women’s singles. Choong convincingly topped her group and beat Ukraine’s Nina Kozlova 21-12 21-4 in the last eight before being beaten 11-21 6-21 by China’s Lin Shuangbao.

Shephard and Choong were top seeds in the SH6 mixed doubles and booked their place in the last four after coming through an epic group stage clash with Chu Man Kai and Choi Wing Keh (22-20 13-21 21-11).

Once there, however, a different Chinese pair proved too strong as Zeng Qingtao and Lin Shuangbo prevailed 21-14 21-15.