THERE were six clubs represented on the winners’ podium at the Oranmore Badminton Club Open tournament held last Sunday to raise funds for the children of Chernobyl.

In total, 51 players took part in the tournament, which was open to Grade 9 and Grade 10 players, with participants travelling from Menlough, Cortoon, Claddaghduff, An Cheathrú Rua, Ardrahan, Galway Lawn Tennis Club, Ardrahan, Maree and Oranmore to take part in the event.

The Grade 9 event was run in a team format, while Grade 10 was split into Men’s Doubles and Ladies Doubles, and an open draw was held for partners and teams.

The Grade 9 final was won by the team of Chris O’Malley (Claddaghduff), Murali Raju (Cortoon), Aileen Melville (Ardrahan) and Mairéad Hanniffy (Maree), who won both doubles and mixed doubles for a 4-0 victory.

The runners-up were Bryan Kelly (Oranmore), Philip Gleeson (Ardrahan), Paula Mullery (GLTC) and Bríd Conneely (An Cheathrú Rua).

In the Grade 10 Men’s Doubles, the pairing of Michael Óg Brennan (An Cheathrú Rua) and Keith Kelly (Oranmore) ran out 21-18, 21-19 winners over John Lally and Christopher Craughwell (both Menlough) in what was a close contest.

Brennan and Kelly were the fresher pairing going into the final due to the fact Lally and Craughwell were taken to three sets in their semi-final against Derrick May (Ardrahan) and Kenny Walsh (Oranmore).

The Ladies Doubles final saw Sinéad Cleary (Oranmore) and Bríd O’Connor (An Cheathru Rua) sneaking the first set on a 23-21 scoreline against Mary Lydon (An Cheathrú Rua) and Kate Thompson (Ardrahan), but they had things much more comfortable in the second set, winning 21-7.

The tournament was organised and run by John Costello of Oranmore Badminton Club on behalf of club member Bláthnait Ní Mhurchú, the 2011 Mayo Rose, who was one of 14 Roses who travelled over to Belarus this week to volunteer in the Adi Roche-aided Vesnova Children’s Mental Asylum.

The Roses, as well as two escorts, had hoped to raise €20,000 to directly assist the children of the orphanage, and all monies raised from Sunday’s competition went towards the charity.
Ní Mhurchú thanked all who played in the competition, particularly those who travelled from far for the event. Oranmore Club Treasurer, Deirdre Caulfield made the presentation of prizes after the last of the finals was played, and O’Malley replied on behalf of all the winners, thanking all who helped organise the event, and to Caulfield and fellow club members Steven Lally and Ollie Kyne, who refereed the finals.