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!