A strong squad travelled to France for the Adidas Alpes International Championship this week and there were several excellent performances.
The latest stop on the Junior International Series saw England’s best under-19 shuttlers head to Voiron in the south east of the country, with the future stars of the game looking to shine brightly.
England had 19 entrants in total across the five draws Nadeem Dalvi led the way in the men’s singles, with an excellent run taking him through to the quarter-final stage.
He didn’t drop a game while beating both Nicholas Fouquet and Baptiste Rolin in the early rounds.
Unseeded Dalvi then faced a tough looking tie with the 11th seed Dominik Kopriva but proved far too good on the day, winning 21-15, 21-14.
Home favourite Yohan Barbieri was next up in round four for Dalvi but playing the top seed didn’t faze him at all.
Despite a much closer contest, the Luton shuttler secured a 21-19, 21-16 win to reach the last eight.
Although Indonesian youngster Muhammad Reza Al Fajri ended his brave run with a 21-17, 21-16 win, Dalvi can take great pride from his performances in Voiron this week.
Elsewhere, Oliver Butler and Charlie Castle both had success in the early rounds in the men’s singles, navigating their way through a big draw.
Castle managed to overcome one of the home contingent in Gaspard Delabrosse, taking a nail-biting first set before winning, 23-21, 21-10.
Although second seed Simon Baron-Vezilier proved too strong in the next round, it was still an experience to build upon for Castle.
Meanwhile, Butler was given a bye in the opening round but then face Switzerland’s Liano Panza for a place in the last 32.
The opening two games were closely fought, with Butler edged out by two points in the first before taking the match to a decider.
He managed to complete a comeback win with a 19-21, 21-17, 21-10 victory.
That set up a meeting with the seeded Simeon Suchy in round three, but the Slovakian had too much quality for Butler, who bowed out after a 21-15, 21-13 defeat.
Ashwati Nair was another to find top form in France this week in the women’s singles draw.
She defeated two Spanish players en-route to the last eight, including a three-game win over 12th seed Cristina Teruel, a player nearly 500 places above her in the world rankings.
Marie Cesari, one of many from a deep French squad, was next but she was also beaten in a decider, Nair coming from behind to win 14-21, 21-14, 21-19.
Fourth seed Emile Drouin, who had earlier knocked out Chloe Dennis, ended her run with in the quarters but Nair went down fighting, losing 21-13, 21-16 against a tough opponent.
Estelle van Leeuwen, seeded seventh, started well and won three matches without dropping a game to reach the round of 16.
However, her run ended there, with 16th seed Ester Nurumi Tri Wardoyo, pulling off a hard fought 21-16, 21-12 win.
The women’s doubles also saw strong English performances, particularly from van Leeuwen and her Dutch partner Kirsten De Wit.
The young shuttler, who won on her England debut in the Sudirman Cup last year, produced some high quality performances, as the top seeded duo got past the French team of Agathe Cuevas and Lucie Meclot to reach the quarter-finals.
That was where the journey ended, with Anisanaya Kamila and Az Zahra Ditya Ramadhani winning 21-18, 20-22, 21-10 to make the last four.
In the men’s doubles, Dalvi and Butler teamed up to reach the third round.
They put up a brave effort against French seventh seeds Natan Begga and Baptiste Lebarthe, saving two game points in the opener before eventually going down 23-21, 21-14.
And finally in the mixed doubles, the partnership of Butler and Chloe Dennis were the sole English entrant.
They started brightly with a strong performance in the third set seeing them get past the French pair of Arthur Vaugeois and Lisa Breuillat, 21-16, 16-21, 21-12.
That meant they would face German’s Ella Neve and Jonathan Dresp in the last 16 and once again the English team came out of the blocks in the opening set.
But this time they couldn’t covert that into a win, going down 18-21, 21-18, 21-11 to exit the competition.