Badminton Players take the gold without dropping a single set
Last weekend, two players from the Badminton 1s team took part in the Midlands Doubles Senior Silver in Perthshire and won a gold in the tournament! This week is Scottish Women and Girls in Sport week and we want to highlight some of the amazing women that are a part of the Saints Sport community. This highlight is about Emma Gale and Chloe Hunt.
Emma is final year PhD student who only started training and competing in badminton as a fresher at the University of Birmingham at the age of 18, before which she was a swimmer. She then continued to compete in BUCS and local league during her Undergrad in Birmingham, Masters in Oxford and PhD here in St Andrews. “I love playing and I am grateful for all the life-long friends it has enabled me to meet over the years”, says Emma.
Chloe Hunt is 4th year Psychology student and Badminton scholar who started playing at the age of 6. She joined the Warwickshire squad when she was 7 and from then, started competing nationally. She started to represent the junior England team when she was 12, and quit competitive swimming to play in tournaments across Europe. She was ranked number 1 in England Women’s Singles between ages 13 to 17, winning several medals at the junior national championships in the singles, doubles and mixed categories. She took a break when she was 16 after an Achilles injury and only started competing again in 2021 post the pandemic. Recently, Chloe was a finalist at the 2023 Senior National Championships in women’s singles. “What I love most about badminton, and sport in general, is that you get out what you put in. It’s great to see my hard work on the court and in the gym paying off when I perform well in tournament”, says Chloe.
Chloe and Emma met playing badminton at the University have partnered for over a year now and enter Silver and Gold level tournaments in Scotland regularly. In the Midlands tournament, despite being up against tough opponents, Emma and Chloe managed to take gold without dropping a single set the whole way.
They both sit in the top 20 in Scotland for Women’s doubles and are training hard to hopefully medal at SSS this year. Congratulations to both the players for their lovely achievement!