10-Jan:
Smith to challenge Ouseph at the
English National Championships
 ANDREW
SMITH, one of England’s top two men’s singles players, has
given the English National Badminton Championships a special
boost by entering the event for the first time since it moved to
Manchester seven years ago.
The world No 29 from Hampshire, a semi-finalist when the
Championships were staged in West Sussex before moving to
Manchester, will provide the main obstacle to Rajiv Ouseph’s
bid for a singles hat-trick at the Championships, which take
place at The Velodrome in SportCity from February 5-7.
 Ouseph,
who is ranked at No 24 in the world, is one of only two past
winners entered in the men’s singles. The other is veteran Mark
Constable, the Jersey player who won the title when playing for
Warwickshire in 2002.
There are 50 entries for the men’s singles with last year’s
runner-up Carl Baxter (Avon) and Harry Wright (Lancs)
among the other leading contenders.
Jersey’s Elizabeth Cann will again be bidding for a
fourth women’s singles title after being edged out in last
year’s final by Jill Pittard (Warks), who announced her
retirement last month.
 Cann
is the only past winner in the 30-strong line-up and her main
challengers will be Cheshire’s Helen Davies,
Hertfordshire’s Rachel Howard and the emerging Hampshire
teenager Panuga Riou.
In the men’s doubles Anthony Clark will bid for an
amazing ninth consecutive title. He and seven-times champion
Nathan Robertson (both Notts), the holders and 2009
Singapore Open winners, will be aiming for a sixth title
together. Chris Adcock(Notts) and Robert Blair (Leics),
last year’s runners-up, Andrew Ellis (Yorks) and Dean
George (Herts), Chris Langridge (Surrey) and Robin
Middleton (Yorks), and Marcus Ellis (Yorks) and
Peter Mills (Notts) will be the four other main pairs in a
27-strong entry.
In the women’s doubles there will be a new name on the list of
winners following the retirement of Donna Kellogg (Derbyshire),
who has dominated the event for the last five years.
Leeds pair Gabby White and Jenny Wallwork, last year’s
runners-up, head the entry with the main challenge expected to
come from Jersey-born Avon player Mariana Agathangelou and
Heather Olver of Sussex.
The mixed doubles is the most fascinating of the five events as
Robertson and Wallwork try to get the better of Clark
and new partner Olver. Clark has dominated the mixed with
Kellogg for the last three years but the new pairing will only
have the Proton Malaysian Open is a competitive warm-up for
their English National title bid.
Adcock and White, the highest ranked current pair at No.
21 in the world, will be a big danger while Middleton and
Agathangelou (Avon) and Dean George and Sam Ward
(Surrey) will also be in contention.
A total of 134 players from 26 counties as far apart as Jersey
and Northumberland have entered the English National
Championships with Yorkshire boasting the largest entry.
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