THE Durham Restricted Tournament sponsored by Yahlex of Gateshead took place at the Gateshead International Stadium.

There were 43 players taking part in the five events and some of the County juniors were on view, however it was sad to see some of the senior players missing.

In the men's singles, with an entry of 14, some good games were seen with the two top seeds Ewen Clark (Durham University) and Andrew Pollard (Houghton-le-Spring) reaching the final.

The game was very tense with Andrew winning a close three ender 15-1 6-15 17-16.

In the ladies singles there was a poor entry of only eight players and again top seeds went through to the final, Caroline Ashdown (Durham. University) and Mary Le Druillenec (Heighington). Mary winning 11-6 11-8.

In the men's doubles eleven pairs entered and some excellent Badminton was seen, as in previous events seeds reached their allotted place in the final.

Ian Pattinson (Weardale) and Jim Lowden (Washington) met Tony Evans (Hartlepool) and David Bruce (Middlesbrough) with Tony and David winning 15-7 15-7. Tony must receive a special mention as he is now in the Veteran class.

In the ladies doubles, again the Ladies let us down with only five pairs entering the two top seeds reaching the final with Fiona McGinn (Durham) and Gill Hay (Durham) beating Lesley Byrne (Boldon) and Sherry Fallon (South Shields) 15-10 10-15 15-7.

In the Mixed Doubles, an entry of eleven pairs entered with top seeds Kevin Raper (Darlington) and Fiona McGinn (Durham) reaching their allotted place in the final but in the other half of the draw the number two seeds Ian Pattinson (Weardale) and Gill Hay (Durham) had to concede in the semis to allow Androw Pollard (Houghton-le-Spring) and Sherry Fallon (South Shields) into the final.

As the mixed final followed the singles final Andrew was fairly tired and they lost to Kevin and Fiona 15-0 15-11