Hart of five golds (From Milford Mercury)

Hart of five golds

11:00am Thursday 2nd July 2009

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Pembrokeshire’s rising badminton star Jordan Hart produced some outstanding matches to claim five golds at the Welsh National tournament in Llanelli at the weekend.

Few present could remember when one player performed so powerfully over two days. On Saturday she outclassed her own under-15 age bracket, as the best in Wales strove to topple her, but she won the singles, the doubles with Louise Breen of Cardiff and the mixed doubles with Michael Kinnear of Cardiff.

On Sunday the performance had to go up another gear as she took on the under-17 category.

With relatively untried partnerships in mixed and girls’ doubles, it would be a tough challenge. The singles’ matches were demanding but eventually she was in the final against the outstanding Sarah Thomas of Cardiff, two years her senior and a player who is tipped as a possible for the London Olympics. It was tight all the way, but Sarah claimed victory by a few points only.

Most regular viewers of these top Welsh tournaments consider that Jordan is rapidly closing the gap on Sarah in a sport where matches are so close and winning and losing can be determined by inches on just a few shots.

Relieved from the pressure of the singles’ final, Jordan was on overdrive in the doubles, as she and her new partners got to both finals. In the girls’ doubles with Giorgia Hughes, of north Wales, they met the top seeds, Sarah Thomas and Amy Moran and came out on top with Jordan’s attacking power to the fore.

In the mixed doubles final she again triumphed with Daniel Font of north Wales, in yet another exciting close match.

To round off a great weekend, an agent for Yonex, the world number one badminton equipment company approached Jordan to offer her kit sponsorship - a sure sign that those in the know are tipping Jordan to get right to the top in British badminton.

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