Good sports raise a racquet in aid of Ukraine

THE fundraising efforts of a local sports club have been causing quite a racquet.

The Ennis Lawn Tennis and Badminton Club has raised €1,000 for the work of the Irish Red Cross in Ukraine.

On Good Friday the junior badminton players took part in a fun whistle-stop blitz to raise the funds for the charity.

The aim of the whistle stop blitz was to score as many points as possible off your opposition within a short-time frame which leads to lots of fast badminton action as well as plenty of noise and banter.

The morning started with the U12 and U14 age groups and continued with a combined U16/U19 group in the afternoon.

All age groups were well contested, with the U12 section won by Aleksei  Tushkanov and Colin Hehir with James O’Connell and Lily Mantari in second place.

The winners of the U14 section were Jack Doyle and Conor McMahon while the runners-up were John O’Connell and Iurii Tushkanov.

The older age group was won by Tadhg Howard and Jack Cahill with Kayla Connellan and Antonina Galka in second place.  

“Many thanks to the Junior Badminton players from Smash Badminton Club, Miltown Malbay Badminton Club and An Droichead Badminton Club for supporting our blitz,” said a spokesperson for the club.

“Many thanks also to Badminton Ireland Activation Officer for Munster, Aisling Ryan, who stayed with us for the day to help and encourage all the players.”

Junior club members subsequently presented the proceeds of the blitz to club Treasurer, Tom Byrne.

With contributions from the Junior Badminton Committee and a raffle held during the recent Adult Badminton Blitz, as well as a large contribution from the club’s management committee, the total amount raised for the Ukraine Appeal is €1,000 which will now be sent by the club to the Red Cross.