The cream of the area s youngsters were involved in the North Herts under-12 badminton tournament. Knights Templar Sports Centre in Baldock hosted a busy afternoon of single and doubles events for the boys and girls. The boys singles had clear winners in

The cream of the area's youngsters were involved in the North Herts under-12 badminton tournament.

Knights Templar Sports Centre in Baldock hosted a busy afternoon of single and doubles events for the boys and girls.

The boys' singles had clear winners in each of the four groups, with Matthew Tucker, Hugo Weaver, Niles Beadman and Jora Sohal not losing a game.

In the semis, Matthew beat Niles 15-11 and Hugo saw off Jora 15-3.

Matthew was too strong for Hugo in the final, winning 15-9.

The girls' singles was in two groups and again the group winners (Anna Collis and Hannah McLaren) did not lose a game.

The other two semi-final places were taken by Leah Tomlin and Amy Willetts, who only just pipped Tanishia Gearing and Poppie Ephgrave on points.

The semis were decisively won by Anna and Hannah, beating Amy 15-1 and Leah 15-0 respectively. The final had the same score as the boys' event, with Anna coming out on top.

The girls' doubles event was all about runners-up spot, as Anna and Hannah were playing together! All the pairs played each other and Leah Tomlin and Paige Taylor fought their way to the silver medals, only losing to the gold medallists on the way.

The boys' event was in two groups. Matthew and his partner Gregory Stewart won the first group and the other was won by Niles and Graham Birch.

The runners-up were Harrison Basra with Iilya Dragas and Riley Tolliday with Austin Ephgrave, both pairs only losing to their group winner.

The semis both went to form, with Matthew/Gregory seeing off Harrison/Iilya 15-1 and Niles/Graham beating Riley/Austin 15-4.

The final was not as close as expected and Matthew could not emulate Anna's double gold, as Niles and Graham won 21-11.

* Anna Collis was part of the Herts county under-12 badminton first team which recently took gold in the Eastern regional team tournament.

Two teams from Herts, Suffolk, Norfolk and Essex competed against each other in a bid for the championship title.

The Herts team won their group and semi-final in convincing style before facing favourites Essex first team in the final.

In the final, all three boys narrowly lost their singles games but the girls brought the score to 4-2 by winning two of their three singles.

The last three doubles matches, including the mixed doubles of Collis and Lyall Daniels, were won by Herts who took the tournament with a final score of 5-4.

* Herts reached the semi-finals of the national 17-21 county team championships held on its home courts at the Herts Sports Village in Hatfield. They lost out to eventual champions Yorkshire in the last four.

Herts players who had notable performances over the weekend were Anthony Moye (Kimpton) and Emma Stokes (Benington) who went undefeated at first mixed pair.