KIARA GREEN was the star of the four Guernsey juniors who competed at the Under-15 South-West Regional Tournament. All the Sarnians, two boys and two girls, performed creditably at the event in Melksham, Wiltshire, but it was Green who came closest to emulating Elena Johnson’s achievement of winning the singles title.

She powered through her group, upsetting the seeding and winning a place in the semi-finals.

There she met Lucie Vickers, who had overcome the other Guernsey representative, Lorraine Koller, in the quarter-finals, and triumphed in a tremendous three-setter.

Although she went on to lose the final against top seed Isobel Bork, of Dorset, it was an excellent tournament overall for Green.

‘Reaching the final of our regional tournament was a fantastic achievement for Kiara who, at just 14, has another year in this age group.

‘Lorraine came off [after her quarter-final] feeling she could have done much better, but the experience of playing these girls was excellent for her,’ said Anne Johnson, Guernsey’s development officer.

Green and Koller combined in the doubles and finished a creditable third.

In the boys’ section, David Davison and Danny Kampmann acquitted themselves well in the singles. Davison won three of his four group games, losing only to eventual title-winner Oliver Crichton, before going out at the last-16 stage, while Kampmann won two of his four group matches and just missed out on the knockout stages.

‘Having played five and four singles matches respectively, they [Davison and Kampmann] had difficulty in converting to doubles, but there is no doubt that the experience they received was valuable and incredibly motivational,’ said Johnson.

‘As part of the development of junior badminton, I felt that taking children to the South-West Regionals was a good progression.

‘The event was a brilliant experience for the youngsters and with the support of the GBA I hope to build on this as a regular event which we attend. Next season I would like to be able to enter our juniors in the other age groups.’