THE Southend and District Junior Badminton Association hosted the Essex Futures 2* event at the Belfairs Academy.

This event is the second tier of Badminton England’s competitive structure and players came from all over the county with a few travelling from neighbouring counties and some from as far away as Oxfordshire.

A total of 83 youngsters battled it out in 20 events, with 180 matches being played.

The winner of the year 4/5 boys singles was Edward Gotts with Louis Connah finishing as runner-up.

The doubles event winners were Louis Connah and Suriya Rao as they beat Harley Durrant and Edward Gotts. Nikhil Pulikkottil, who was playing up an age group, was the winner of the year 6/7 boys singles over Darshan Anand.

The year 6/7 boys doubles was won by brothers Nikhil and Samuel Pulikkottil with Aaron Rose and Oliver Walpole finishing runners-up. The largest event with 27 competitors was the year 8/9 boys singles and the eventual winner was Samuel Pullikottil, also playing up an age group, with the runner-up, James Kannathasan. Kannathasan then combined with Tenny Mariyanayagam to win the 8/9 boys doubles.

Brothers Agilraj and Arpithraj Thomas finished as runners-up, after travelling some distance to compete.Chris Saji triumphed in the year 10/11 boys singles with Aditha Sivakumar the runner-up. Saji and Sivakumar then paired up to take the year 10/11/12/13 doubles title beating Henry Kannathasan and Shri Sivakumar in the final. Shri Sivakumar then triumphed over Brodie Beaven in the Year 12/13 boys singles event.

The girls events were lower in entries and age groups needed to be merged. Year 4/5 girls Singles winner was Srisureka Subramanian as she beat Seraphina Mahendrakumaran. They then paired up to be the doubles winners with Eva Munro and Grace Kearney finishing runners-up.

The year 6/7/8/9 girls singles winner was Shaivi Garg while the year 10/11/12/13 girls singles winner was Chloe Baker with Manya Bhargava finishing as runner-up. Shaivi Garg and Saanvi Kumar won the girls doubles year 6/7/8/9 as they beat Keira Durrant and Evie McDaniel.

The girls doubles year 10/11 winners were Chloe Baker and Manya Bhargava,