THERE was excitement and drama on the courts as children competed in the Bracknell Forest Primary Schools Festival of Badminton recently.

Held at Bracknell Leisure Centre, the festival formed part of the Bracknell Forest Council’s Young People in Sport Scheme and has been running since 1993.

This year, 14 teams from nine schools took part, producing some nail-biting and closely-fought matches.

The first part of the competition saw teams try to accumulate as many points as they could towards their final total.

At the end of the preliminary matches, the two teams with the most points played the final, the next two teams played the bronze medal match and so on until all teams received a ranking from one to 14.

In the preliminary round, defending champions Cranbourne A, Owslmoor A, College Town and Binfield A all scored maximum points to qualify for the medal matches.

In order to separate the teams, the number of game points conceded was used as the determining factor. Even then the teams were barely separable.

In the final analysis, College Town would play Owlsmoor A in the final, with Binfield A taking on Cranbourne A in the bronze medal match.

In the play-offs for the lower rankings, there were promising performances with St Joseph’s, Holly Spring and St Michael’s (Sandhurst) picking up useful points.

Even the schools that struggled to secure many points played their hearts out and every school taking part won at least one game.

In the bronze medal match, the honours were fairly even until Cranbourne A showed their strength to pull away in the latter stages and win by four matches to two.

The final between College Town and Owlsmoor A was a fantastic battle, with the result in doubt right up to the final rally.

Owlsmoor started well, winning the first two games, but even so the scores were close. College Town then fought back well to take the next two games and level the match score.

The fifth game was tight, but the momentum swung back in Owlsmoor’s favour with a third win. Not to be outdone, College Town came back again to win the final game and make the final score three games each.

Points conceded were once again used as the deciding factor and Owlsmoor were crowned champions by 77-75.

Festival organiser Jennifer Ray presented the medals and trophies to the successful teams.

There were three other important awards from the day’s events. Ella Farmer (St Michael’s, Sandhurst) won the Most Improved Girls Award, Max Youkee (Holly Spring) won the Most Improved Boys Award and St Joseph’s won the Fair Play Award, which was voted for by the other team managers.

The standard of badminton throughout was first class, particularly as many of the children were playing in a tournament for the first time. The children also played in a terrific spirit and the atmosphere was excellent throughout.