Badminton: Ripon youngster Matt Clare wins doubles gold at English National Championships
Ripon badminton player Matt Clare won a gold medal at the English National Under 19 championships last weekend alongside doubles partner Ben Lane.
Clare and Lane, from Devon, only lost one set on their crusade to the men’s doubles title in Milton Keynes.
The top seeds beat the third and fourth ranked players Callum Hemming and Johnnie Torjussen 21-16, 12-21, 21-5 in the final.
The success was a fitting finale to a junior badminton career that has seen him win three national age group titles, and European Championship gold.
In addition to winning gold in the men’s doubles at the weekend, he also won silver in the mixed doubles event.
The former Ripon Grammar school pupil is studying for a degree at Loughborough University, where he combines his studies with the support and training to progress his sporting ambitions too.