Gold rush for badminton starlet

The 15-year-old from Hastings scooped the girls’ singles, girls’ doubles and mixed doubles crowns in a Badminton England under-19 open circuit event at Medway Park.

In the singles, Lydia won her box courtesy of a 21-13, 21-6 victory over Stephanie Tillman (Kent) and 21-10, 19-21, 21-18 success against Tsui-Yee Bethany Lau (Buckinghamshire), coming from 11-3 down in the decider.

Third seed Lydia then overcame 41st-ranked second seed Nicole Burgess, from Buckinghamshire, 21-10, 21-19 in the semi-finals. In the final she upset top seed and national no.20 Josie Latimer 9-21, 21-15, 15-4 retired.

In the mixed doubles, Lydia teamed up with Jack Kinmond (Berkshire) for the second time. The second seeds beat third seeds Connor Bambrick (Hertfordshire) and Daniela Kobeluch (Berkshire) 22-20, 21-18 in the semi-finals before outgunning the Sussex pairing of Philip Fenner and Sarah Gray 21-18, 21-10 in the final.

Lydia, of Priory Road, also joined forces with regular partner Anna Collis (Hertfordshire) to comfortably capture the girls’ doubles, fully justifying their number one seeding in doing so.

The full article will appear in tomorrow’s Hastings Observer.