'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!

ASHAWAY RENEW PARTNERSHIP WITH BUCS

Ashaway are please to announce our extended partnership with BUCS Badminton for an additional two years.

The ongoing partnership between the organisations will see Ashaway become the associate sponsors of BUCS domestic badminton and will include the offer of discounted shuttlecocks for BUCS members and badminton clubs and support at BUCS badminton events to help deliver an even better event experience.

 “Ashaway are delighted to renew our long standing association with BUCS Badminton, it gives us a unique opportunity to connect with 18-24 year olds who are the life blood of badminton. The individual championships does of course showcase elite standard badminton, but the atmosphere and the enthusiasm that the students bring makes the event unique and it is the most enjoyable promotional activity that we do!”  Nick Goode, Goode Sport

BUCS members can purchase Ashaway International 500 Shuttlecocks at the discounted rate of £13.50 per dozen including postage (Terms apply). Please click here for full details.

For details of the up coming individual BUCS Badminton championships, please visit the BUCS Badminton Website

Stringing report from the British Grand Prix

Ashaway are the official string of the British Grand Prix, this years event was run 20th-24th September at the national squash centre in Manchester. The event was televised in various countries worldwide and on PSATV Live on the Internet.

Nick Matthew was the eventual winner of the event, Nick uses Ashaway PowerNick 18 in his racket, congratulations to him.

Nick Down of www.smartracquet.co.uk was our official stringer at the event and his stringing report is below:

43 restrings:
2 x Supernick XL Micro (1 at 27lbs, 1 at 28lbs)
2 x Supernick XL Pro (both at 28lbs)
1 x Supernick XL (at 27lbs)
23 x Powernick 18 (4 at 25lbs, 15 at 26lbs, 4 at 28lbs)
4 x Powernick 19 (all 4 at 26lbs)
6 x Ultranick 17 (4 at 25lbs, 2 at 26lbs)
5 x Ultranick 18 (all at 25lbs)

Black Knight Ashaway exhibition Devon Style!

We ran a successful exhibition at the Devon & Exeter Squash club last week with David Palmer, Joel Hinds and several local Devonshire BK Ashaway heros:

Ashley Knight – BK Ashaway sponsored Head coach at the D&E club

Dave Palmer – The name sake, local stringer, county player and sponsored by BK Ashaway

 

Ashley gave a good account of himself against Joel Hinds and there was some ‘generous’ rallies in ‘the battle of David Palmers’ but the Australian version came out on top.

 

The pro players then played each other and Joel actually edged the game against David Palmer, with John White (John is not associated with BK Ashaway) winning the finale.

It was a packed house, a very lively, fun and enjoyable evening. An excellent promotion.

Attached here a few photos:

1. All the players on court (l to r Ashley Knight, Joel Hinds, Dave Palmer, David Palmer, John White, Bruce MacDonald)

2. At the stand (Kevin Webb – SW Sales Agent, Joel Hinds, David Palmer) 

 

Nic Strange and Joe Morgan Win the Mens Doubles in Slovak Open 2012

The first match saw the Welsh duo come up against a high ranking Croatian junior pairing of Filip Spoljarec and Josip Uglesic. After a slow start and being down 20-16 in the first set some good serving and controlling play saw the Welsh take the first set 22-20. After this they went onto win the second 21-14 moving into the quarter finals.
Next up was the 3rd seeded pair of Jonas Christensen (Norway) and Misbun Misbun Shawal (Malaysia). Some dominating play saw the Welsh take the first set 21-13 quickly following with the second set 21-17 taking them into the semi finals.
A Czech pair of Pavel Florian and Jaromir Janacek came up next and this saw the Welsh lose their first and only set of the competition. After being down a set the Welsh managed to claw back the second set to take it into a decider. After point for point play the Welsh came through on top winning 21-16 in the 3rd.
Onto the final where the Welsh played the number 1 seeds from Belarus Aleksai Konakh and Yauheni Yakauchuk. After some dominating play the Welsh took the first set 21-9 and feeling confident moving into the second they again took a quick lead. The Belarusians started to make progress toward the end and crawled back to 17-16 but the Welsh were to strong and took the final winning 21-9, 21-17.
Nic Strange quoted ‘it was great to play my first international tournament and we got off to the right start for the season. I can’t wait to get back playing and work on my ranking with Joe. Winning is just an amazing feeling and now we have to get back to Cardiff and get a good block of training in before Irish Future open 3 weeks’.
Joe Morgan quoted ‘I am absolutely delighted. I have had a tough couple of years due to injury and to win my comeback international is fantastic. A great start to the new partnership with Nic. We played well all weekend’.

Ashaway Zyex® MonoGut Tennis String Renamed MonoGut® ZX

Ashaway Racket Strings has renamed the recently introduced Zyex® MonoGut tennis string as MonoGut® ZX. The early version of the string has gained increasing popularity for its exceptional dynamic stiffness and gut-like playability, leading many playtesters to predict that the long sought goal of producing a synthetic string to rival the performance of natural gut has been reached. In addition to its resilience, the newly dubbed 1.27 mm MonoGut ZX has been collecting kudos for its improved abrasion resistance, and a surface design that minimizes string movement for better ball control.

"Like natural gut, MonoGut ZX string provides exceptional energy return," said Steve Crandall, Vice President of Ashaway Racket Strings, "better than any other synthetic material. This means more power. Also like gut, MonoGut ZX remains soft at higher tensions, reducing impact shock. This results in more comfortable performance—what we call 'soft power.' MonoGut ZX contains no polyester, and its 100% Zyex monofilament construction maximizes abrasion resistance and enhances string life."

The absence of polyester in MonoGut ZX increases elongation and decreases stiffness, generating comfortable soft power. Reports from playtesters have been extremely positive, said Crandall, with comments like: "All-around playability is WAY higher than polyester," "Juicy snap back," and "Get results from more compact strokes." Few breakage problems have been reported, and several players raved: "Great power," "Great spin," and "Totally different sound than when hitting other monos."

MonoGut ZX is designed for players seeking both gut-like playability and superior durability in a solid monofilament string, as well as players using monofilament strings in hybrid stringing patterns. A natural gut-like tan in appearance, MonoGut ZX is available in 40-ft (12 m) sets and in both 360-ft (110 m) and 720-ft (220 m) reels. Recommended stringing tension is up to 60 lbs. (27 kgs).

Click here to view full product information.

2012 Olympic Disqualifications - Reaction from Andy Goode

Andy Goode, Partner at Goode Sport and former Olympic Badminton player (1992) and Olympic Team Manager (1996) gives his reaction to the disqualification of 8 badminton players from London 2012 Olympic live on CNN and Al Jazeera earlier today.



Have your say on our facebook page: www.facebook.com/Ashaway

British Grand Prix Manchester 2012 - Ashaway Official String

We are please to announce that Ashaway are the official string of the British Grand Prix Manchester 2012. The British Grand Prix is the largest and most prestigious European World Series event on the Professional Squash Association (PSA) World Tour and will be staged at the National Squash Centre in Manchester from the 21st to 24th September 2012.

The UK’s leading title, boasting the largest prize money offered by any standalone PSA World Tour ranking event in Europe, and will be contested by the world’s leading players.

To purchase tickets for this event please visit: www.isquashstore.com/iSPORTticketing

New Ashaway 2012-13 Badminton Brochure

We are pleased to present our new badminton collection featuring the New Atomic Hex Frame racket Series:

 
Click to launch the full edition in a new window

JOSH GREEN SIGNS FOR ASHAWAY

Josh Green

Josh Green, 20, the former under 19 national singles champion has put pen to paper with Ashaway as he begins to play full time badminton. Already ranked at number 8 in the country Josh is now training full time at the National Badminton centre in Milton Keynes.

"We are delighted to have Josh on board, he is obviously a dedicated and talented badminton player - but also a very genuine and likeable person - he will make a superb ambassador for Ashaway in the years to come and we look forward to watching him grow as a professional athlete" said Paul Smith, Partner at Goode Sport, distributor for Ashaway in the UK, Ireland and France.

Josh commented "It's a big day for me! Ashaway is definitely a brand on the up, and we will grow together - I can't wait to get on court with the new kit and rackets, they look great!"

Josh will receive his tournament plan for next season in the coming weeks from Badminton England and is targeting to climb the rankings quickly next season.

Josh has selected the Ashaway Viper XT900 racket with ZyMax 65 string, which he has at 26lbs.

Images from Josh's official photoshoot have been posted to the official Ashaway facebook website: www.facebook.com/ashaway

Ashaway appointed as the Official String to Allam British Open Championships

London, Friday, 23rd March 2012: England Squash & Racketball (ESR) announced today that it has appointed Ashaway (www.ashaway.co.uk) as the Official Stringing Partner to the Allam British Open Championships in the London Piazza, O2 Arena, 14-20 May 2012.

Ashaway will have a retail presence at the O2, providing stringing services from their renowned range of UltraNick, PowerNick and SuperNick strings.

Ashaway strings feature a range of monofilament or multifilament Zyex cores, encapsulated within a high tenacity nylon monofilament surface and is the string of choice for many world class players, including David Palmer (4 time British Open Champion), Nick Matthew (defending champion), Peter Barker (world number 7) Daryl Selby (world number 11), Adrian Grant (world number 16), Ong Beng Hee (world number 23), Madeline Perry (world number 3) & Alison Waters (former world number 7)

Paul Smith, Partner at Goode Sports enthused; “We are delighted that Ashaway has been appointed the Official String to the Allam British Open. The return of the British Open is great news for the sport and we look forward to being a part of it. ”

Ashaway will be offering a discount to all players who have their racquets strung during the British Open. Visit the Ashaway stand for more details.

Tickets for the British Open and the Gala Champions Dinner can be bought online on the British Open Championships website at www.britishopensquash.net.

JAMES PHILLIPS - DOUBLE NATIONAL CHAMPION!

Our Welsh international badminton star James Phillips cleared up at the recent Welsh nationals winning both the mens and mixed doubles events!

James reported that the doubles was straight forward until the semi finals. He knew he had a tough match against Daniel Font and Oliver Gwilt, one of the top British junior pairs. But James and his partner came through 25-23 21-17.

In the final James' opponents included fellow Ashaway player and Welsh International player Joe Morgan.
"Come the final again confident we could win, however anything can happen in the nationals, so remained 100% focused. We managed to come through the match winning 21-14, 21-14. I am so use to playing with Joe it was strange playing against him. in fairness to Joe he has just come off the back of a serious injury keeping him off the court for almost a year"

In the mixed doubles James team up with with Jordan Hart, an U15 quad singles gold medalist and very talented junior player. Jordan now U17 trains at the South West Wales High Performance Centre where James and Joe lead up the coaching.
"We had a potential tough match in the group defeating the 2nd seeds and doubles partner Nic Strange and Vikki jones 21-11, 21-11. Come the Semi final had finals we had comfortable wins against Daniel font and Kate Ridler 21-15, 21-14 and Oliver gwilt and Bethan higginson 21-16, 21-17"

James has recently signed a new contract with Goode Sport, just in time to recieve a win bonus for the nationals and now looks to go and represent Wales in the Thomas Cup ... hopefully with Joe Morgan.

James uses the Viper XT900 racket strung with ZyMax 67 at 28lbs.

JOEL HINDS WINS PSA TOUR TITLE

Joel Hinds chalked up his first PSA World Tour title of 2011 in Warsaw beating New Zealander Kashif Shuja to win the Grupa o2 Cup.

Former world No36 Shuja and Hinds fort a close contest with Hinds coming out on top 6-11, 11-5, 11-1, 11-8 in 58 minutes.
"I am very pleased to win this title and have enjoyed my
time here very much," said Hinds "It was another tough game.
"I'd like to say a couple of thank yous: To Rob Owen and other coaches who have helped me and to my sponsors Black Knight & Ashaway.

For a full report on the event visit: http://www.squashsite.co.uk/2009/grupacup2011.htm

Last week Joel added: "I was pleased to finish the year on a high as I didn't feel the first half of
the season went as well as I had planned. I also had another good win the week
after in the Canterbury open, beating Oliver Pett (WR66) in the final."

Joel is looking positively towards the 2nd half of the season and will will play two tournaments in January as warm up for my 1st PSA tournament in Feb, which will take place in Belgium (the Move Open 16th-19th Feb).

Joel Hinds uses the Black Knight Ion Storm Squash Racket and Ashaway UltraNick 18 Squash String.

AGENT DE SQUASH / DISTRIBUTEUR REQUIS POUR FRANCE

RECHERCHE DISTRIBUTEUR SPECIALIS SQUASH

Les Raquettes Black Knight et les cordages/accessoires Ashaway
recherchent leur distributeur pour la France.
Vous êtes bien impliqué dans le squash français, avec de bonnes connaissances des clubs en particulier? Vous parlez anglais?

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Envoyez-nous votre CV ainsi que lettre de motivation à
sales@goode-sport.co.uk