Tag: Lauren Smith

Badminton at The 2022 Commonwealth Games

This is always a lively tournament despite -or perhaps because- some of the big guns from the badminton world are missing. Like the Olympics it’s only held every four years and there’s an exquisite pressure when national prestige is added into the mix.

Some performances really stand out. India’s haul of 3 Golds was exceptional. Sindhu, Sen and Rankireddy/Shetty ruled finals day with a self-belief and swagger that was unstoppable. These athletes have delivered gold when the weight of expectation was heaviest.

In the singles competition there was an opportunity for a Golden Indian double. First up PV Sindhu faced Canadian Michelle Li. Sindhu is a renowned big game player with notable successes in all the blue riband competitions and she arrived on court prepared to unleash her power game. She was uncontainable and dispatched LI in two sets. In the Men’s Singles Lakshya Sen was the hot favourite for the title and he came from behind in his debut Commonwealth Games to beat Ng.

PV Sindhu with GOLD.
Screenshot courtesy BBC

In Mixed Doubles the Singaporean couple Terry HEE and Jessica TAN got the first Gold of the day in two sets. Their attack and intensity gave them a momentum that Ellis & Smith failed to disrupt. In the Men’s Doubles, Lane and Vendy couldn’t live with the quality of Satwik/Chirag and went down in straight sets. Lastly, in the Women’s Doubles, Pearly TAN and Thinaah Muralitharan demolished the English opposition and will be bringing Gold medals home to Malaysia. England had finalists in all three doubles competitions but they had to settle for Silver in each match.

Team Competition

Malaysia’s Gold in the team championship was a great example of an inspired group of players who ignored their critics and seized their moment. Many predicted struggles owing to the absence of LEE Zii Jia however with NG Tze Yong amassing confidence with each success they rode their momentum right to the top of the podium. It was a well deserved Gold. India fought hard and were rewarded with Silver, the Bronze to Singapore. For the first time ever, England failed to win a team event medal.

It’s been an enjoyable tournament with lots of good quality play but not many surprises. However, representing Malaysia, NG Tze Yong has shown incredible grit and nerve since the beginning of the team tournament and he can be proud of his achievements over the past two weeks. Lauren Smith, in getting to two finals, has fed off the home crowd and blended their support with a focus on the prize. I’m fascinated to see how successes and failures in Birmingham fuel performances in the upcoming World Championships.

©2025

Amanda Bloss All Rights Reserved

 

Lauren Smith: Doubles For Britain.

Lauren Smith has become one of the best doubles players in Europe this year. With Tokyo 2020 getting closer and closer, the possibility of representing Great Britain in the Olympics is very real.

The interesting question is: will she get there and be in Women’s Doubles with Chloe Birch, Mixed Doubles with Marcus Ellis or both?

There’s no doubt she has the hunger and temperament to compete with the best and 2019 has seen her play take on more consistency – especially in Women’s Doubles. The partnership with Chloe Birch is an interesting one. Birch also plays singles, and has observed in the past that experience in this discipline enhances her doubles play. I think she’s right: having a partner who is used to covering the whole court and battling through long rallies must be an advantage.

They have earned some great results together this year. Who can forget the crucial win in the Sudirman Cup against Denmark’s Fruergaard & Thygesen? It was the last match in the tie with the scores drawn at 2-2. The highlights clip below doesn’t really do justice to the determination and intensity that Birch & Smith brought to the court. It was an exhilarating game to watch because they played with courage and character to challenge the Danes.

Video by kind permission of BWF

It went to three games but it ended in victory for the Brits: 21-12, 19-21, 21.-11. That was probably their highest profile success this year but prior to that they had won the Super 100 Orleans Masters and the Azerbaijan International. After that they went to the European Games in Minsk and beat the Danish pair again, on their way to clinching silver.

Her mixed doubles partnership with Marcus Ellis is also flourishing. Most recently they came away with the European Games XD Gold after beating the Adcocks (#1 seeds) in the final at the Falcon Club. That reversed the previous year’s result in the Commonwealth Games when they got silver.

Ellis gives a vast experience to the pair – Bronze with Langridge in Rio is a favourite – but the success is not based on past glory; it’s more to do with the willingness to commit to hard work, unglamourous travel, and coherent development. Just as in WD, Smith is happy to take responsibility at the net, she executes good kills and is not intimidated by the opposition. She can always be relied on to battle even if the match isn’t going her way. Fast reactions, a good defence, nerve and great stamina all add to her arsenal. She also has an oddly unsettling racket position when she serves low; it’s very difficult to see what she is about to do.

She is strategically nimble in both disciplines, good at rotating pressure and not letting herself be a victim of a rivals attempts to bully. She has mentioned before that she’s inquisitive and likes to see how other elite athletes train, so I think this is a very positive aspect of her attitude.

There’s more opportunities for success in XD. Part of Smith’s strength is her personal attitude: when she’s playing she is aggressive and decisive. A typical comment from her on twitter after reaching the QF with Ellis in the Indonesian Open was:

“…found the conditions pretty tricky so it wasn’t the prettiest game! But as always really happy with our fight in the tough moments!”

She has been successful all through her career with various partners and now the focus is with her to drive on to the next stage to explore what she can achieve next.

If you enjoyed this follow the link to take a look at my blog about Tai Tzu Ying – one of the world’s most adored athletes https://womensbadminton.co.uk/2019/07/01/tai-tzu-ying-goddess-or-mortal/

And this one about the current World #1 in Women’s Singles: Akane Yamaguchi https://womensbadminton.co.uk/2019/08/09/japans-akane-yamaguchi-hotter-than-july/

©2019 Amanda Bloss All Rights Reserved