Birkirkara Badminton Club season review

Team's League 
In the Team's League, Birkirkara's first team, retained the title for the fifth year in a row ending the year unbeaten. The team was formed by Stephen Ferrante (captain), Stefan Salomone, Samuel Cali, Fiorella Sadowski, Katerina Vella Ryabkova, and Olga Fedoktina. Birkirkara's second team exceeded all expectations as they ended their commitments in second place. The team was captained by Aldo Polidano, and included Albert Bezzina, Ivan Salomone, Arif Rochman, Jesmond Galea, Matthew Galea, Klara O'Berg, Marica Micallef, and Maria Borg.

Malta National Championships
In the Malta National Championships, Birkirkara brought home 4 out of 5 competitions: Samuel Cali won the Men's Singles title for the first time in his career beating clubmate Stephen Ferrante in the Final. These two players won the Men's Doubles title. Stephen Ferrante, partnered by Fiorella Sadowski, won the Mixed Doubles title. The two titles won by Ferrante were also the first national titles in his career. Fiorella Sadowski retained the Ladies' Singles title she won last year. In the Ladies' Doubles Sadowski, partnered by Klara O' Berg, came runners-up. Another Birkirkara player - Albert Bezzina - won the runner-up position in the Men's Preliminary Singles competition.

Individual League
Birkirkara players added more titles in the Individual League: Stefan Salomone won the Division 1 Singles title; Ivan Salomone finished runner-up in Division 2; Jesmond Galea won the Division 4 title with Edward Grech in second place; young Matthew Galea won the Division 5 title.

Robert & Stefan Salomone won the Division 1 Doubles title followed by Stephen Ferrante & Samuel Cali in second place.

Samuel Cali and Fiorella Sadowski finished runners-up in the Mixed Doubles Division 1.

Birkirkara junior players Matthew Galea, Luigi Grech, Lisa Formosa, Atlanta Cochrane, Sarah Debono & Clarissa Grech also achieved various successes in junior competitions.

International Tournaments
This season Birkirkara players Stefan Salomone, Samuel Cali, Stephen Ferrante and Fiorella Sadowski took part in 4 tournaments abroad to acquire much-needed experience against foreign opposition. 

The best results were achieved in the Cyprus International 2013, were Salomone made it through the first round of the Men's Singles by defeating Cyprus player Christoforos Sarakis 21-12, 21-10. He then lost to Jamie Bonsels (Eng), who is currently ranked 141 in the world, 21-10, 21-12.

In the Ladies' Singles, Fiorella Sadowski was unlucky to be drawn against Carissa Turner (Wal), the second seed of the tournament. Despite the almost impossible feat, Sadowski did her utmost and came out of the court with her head held high, although losing 21-7, 21-10.

In the Mixed Doubles, Sadowski and Salomone faced the second ranked Cypriot pair, Nicolau Elias and Stefany Pinchary. The first set was extremely balanced with the Maltese pair playing at par with their rivals, but a number of unforced errors half way through the game cost them the set, 21-18. But Sadowski and Salomone reacted strongly to their first set upset and won the second set convincingly, 21-14, forcing a third set decider. Yet the two players did not keep up the momentum and lost the third set 21-13.

Improvement
This season also saw tremendous improvement made by a number of players. In particular, Fiorella Sadowski, Samuel Cali, and Stephen Ferrante were rewarded for their dedication by achieving various successes throughout the season. Although they didn't manage to win any major titles, Ivan Salomone and Klara O'Berg have also registered a marked improvement throughout the season. Aldo Polidano is slowly getting back to his top form, whilst Matthew Galea has confirmed himself as a player to watch out for the coming years.

All this was achieved through the hard work of the club's committee, the dedication of Club coach Martin Farrugia and the untiring efforts of the players.

Anybody interested in playing badminton can contact the club on [email protected] or enter club website bkarabadminton.com.