'The Bird' Shuttlecock

Introducing our new and innovative plastic shuttle, exclusive to Ashaway. With 16 years of research and development behind it we believe this is the future of shuttlecocks.

Although still a plastic shuttle, the unique patented 2 piece design sets it apart from other nylon shuttles, just one of many features that leads to a far more feather like performance. As a result of it's unique design the Bird offers three times the rigidity of standard plastics meaning it won't collapse on impact and gives more feel on the racket face. You'll also notice a big difference in the sound made when hitting smashes and clears.

Comparison of rigidity against traditional plastic

Another feather like feature of the Bird is the flight parabola (peak and drop). It has a far more stable flight with quicker righting. This translates to net shots too, where The Bird will perform a much slower and lower bounce than that of a standard plastic, making play more realistic to a feather.

Unlike a feather, The Bird's solid construction will keep it's speed consistent throughout it's life. This sturdiness is a result of the shuttle's turbine flutes being moulded rather than pressed. This added sturdiness results in a longer, more consistent shuttle life than a feather. 

Although feather shuttles will always be most players preference, the ongoing problems with production costs and bird flu means badminton as a sport, needs to think of an alternative. 
The Bird we believe, is it.

The Bird is available in the UK only and is purchasable from Central Sports.







Emma Cook Season Round Up

 

 Ashaway's Emma Cook had another great season with many fine performances throughout the year, finishing top of the mixed rankings list and a more than respectable 4th in the singles.

 

 Emma is looking to take her fine form into next season and also continue her involvement with Danish badminton club Esbjerg.

 

You can see all the Scottish rankings here

 

 Well done Emma from all at Ashaway and good luck for next season!

 

BUCS 2013 - Mark Middleton Double Medalist!

The BUCS Gatorade Nationals Individual Badminton Championship in Association with Ashaway ended with a roll of honour for Ashaways player team.

Top of the list was Mark Middleton with a Silver Medal in the Mens Doubles and Bronze Medal in the Mixed event. Well done Mark!

Full List of Team Ashaway Medalists:

Mark Middleton - Silver - Mens Doubles
Mark Middleton - Bronze - Mixed Doubles
Dan Groom - Bronze - Mens Singles
Chris Evans - Bronze - Mens Singles
Emma Smethurst - Bronze - Ladies Doubles

Narrowly missing out on medals James Lauder (Quarter Finalist - Mens and mixed), Jamie Pugh (Quarter Finalist - Mixed) 

Our thanks to Maurice Robinson Sports, our official retailer over the weekend. Particuarly to Andy Hartley, who was ever present stringing rackets all weekend. A total of 61 rackets were restrung by Andy, often in poor light and sometimes with Black string .. a real effort and well done.

Breakdown of strings used is as follows:

ZyMax 62 - 6 re-strings (10%)
ZyMax 65 - 12 re-strings (20%)
ZyMax 67 - 25 re-strings (40%)
ZyMax 70 - 12 re-strings (20%)

6 restrings with other brands - players own strings (10%)

BUCS Badminton Championships 2013

The Boys from Swansea

Ladies Singles 3 of 16 courts!

This years event is taking place at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield. The largest ever entry of around 700 competitors makes the event the largest in the UK!

It is certainly the most fun, that's for sure!

The championships are run in association with Ashaway, with Ashaway International Shuttlecocks being used throughout the nearly 800 matches over the weekend. The standard of badminton at the championship is vast with club players coming up against some of the best players in the country, it really makes the event unique and very special.

Ashaway are well represented at the championships with Dan Groom 2nd seed in the huge mens singles draw and Mark Middleton 2nd seed in the equally large Mens doubles draw.

Maurice Robinson Sports are Ashaways appointed retailer at the championships offering a superb stringing service at an event special of £12 per restring with highest quality ZyMax string.

Follow Ashaway at the event on our facebook page.

MATHIEU CASTAGNET SIGNS FOR BK ASHAWAY

Goode Sport in conjuction with our french distributor SportFun are pleased to announce the signature of World No. 31 and French No. 2 Squash player Mathieu Castagnet to the Black Knight Ashaway team

Mathieu started as a memeber of the Ashaway BK team at the French National Championships where he finished runner up.

Mathieu is using the Ion Cannon PS with PowerNick 18 string.

Also in France we have added Cyriel Peltier, world no 85, 21 years old and up and coming French star, the rookie Christophe Andre and the experienced pro Johan Boquet to our ranks.

JOE AND NIC - CAN'T STOP WINNING!

Welsh National Champions!

Joe Morgan and Nic Strange are having a very sucessful season! First came the Slovakian Open, then the Iceland International and now the Cyprus Open!

The Dynamic welsh duo also bagged the Welsh National title last weekend! Amazing victory and puts the commonweath games firmly on the radar ...

Report from the Cyprus Open (BWF - International Series Event):

Due to recently doing so well in the season the draw saw the Welsh pairing seeded 2nd for this event. This meant that with a bye they were straight into the Quarter Final where they took on the Israeli pair of Geffen and Sade.  The Welsh pair were far too strong for the Israelis and took the match in 2 sets 20-10, 21-7.

After a short rest it was onto the Semi Final where a young Danish Pair were waiting. After having some good results this season the Welsh knew it wasn’t going to be an easy task. After a close first set and being down a set point some experience play saw the welsh take the first set 22-20. Seeming a little disheartened the Welsh were never down in the second set and took it 21-17.

Joe morgan and Nic Strange - Cyprus International Champions

Joe and Nic - Cyprus Open Champions!

In the final the Welsh came up against the English pairing of Parsons and Walker. Both pairs having not lost a set the whole competition it was bound to be a close affair and did not disappoint. Once again the Welsh had set points against them but were able to pull it through 24-22 in the first set. The second set was equally a close fought affair which the English came out the better of 21-19. So onto the third set and with everything to play for the Welsh came out firing and went up 9-1. The English were not able to bridge this gap in the end leaving the Welsh to take the title 21-14.

Nic commented, ‘this is another great win for us in some difficult playing conditions. It is good preparation for the Welsh Nationals this weekend where I hope to retain my title with Joe Morgan’.

Joe commented, ‘winning the third title of the season is brilliant for us. It will really help improve our world ranking, now onto Nationals on the weekend’.

Nic Strange and Joe Morgan take the Mens Doubles title in Iceland International 2012

Nic Strange (l) and Joe Morgan (r) Iceland International Champions 2012

The Welsh duo have followed up their Slovakian Open title win with an impressive victory in Iceland.

The first round saw Nic and Joe pair up against the Icelandic pair of Erlingsson/Henn. The Welsh set off to a comfortable start making good progress to win the first to 11. This was the followed up in the second set to come through 21-11 21-14.

Next up was a strong new Scottish pairing of Campbell/Gilmour. After losing to Gilmour in the first round in Irish Future only a few weeks before the Welsh were out for revenge. Making a slow start the Scots went up 11-2 in the first then went on to win the set to only 12 points. The Welsh then decided that a change of tactics was needed and some good control play saw then winning the second 21-17. With all to play for in the 3rd set and the Welsh having the edge they slowly moved ahead and came through to get a good win 21-14 in the decider.

After a rest in the evening it was back to the hall to face the Danish paring of Eipe/Lauritsen. Having played a tough 3 sets in the morning the Welsh wanted to get on and off court as quickly as possible. In only 25 minutes Joe and Nic managed to win the game 21-11 and 21-17 which took them into the final.

In the final the Ashaway boys took on another Scottish pairing of Campbell/Machugh. The first set saw both pairings going point for point until the Welsh managed to break away to win the first set 21-17. The Scottish then picked up the pace and raced off to a 8-4 lead in the second set. Slowly but surely some positive play from the Welsh saw them come back to the interval at 11 ahead. Having a lead allowed the Welsh to relax and continue with the good play confidently. In the end the Welsh came through to win 21-17 21-16.

Strange commented, ‘another win for us in such a short space of time is amazing. It really shows that the partnership is growing and we are really training hard to improve even more with each competition’.

Morgan commented, ‘winning again was great for us. I can’t wait for Welsh Open in a few weeks to play at home in front of a home crowd’.

Now the Welsh pair looks forward to the Welsh Open in 3 weeks time.  We wish them good luck!