By Barrie White

Epsom’s Georgina Bland admits she lost a battle of wits at the English National Badminton Championships as she matched her women’s singles seeding of eighth in Manchester.

Bland strolled into the quarter-finals at the National Cycling Centre, first seeing off Nicole Burgess 21-6, 21-12 and then Zoe Hallam 21-14, 21-15 in the second round.

However Bland met Sarah Walker, seeded third, in the last eight and, despite taking a set off her, she fell 21-9, 19-21, 21-8 to the eventual champion in Manchester.

And, having planned to annoy Walker in a bid to reach the semi-finals, Bland revealed the final outcome was the other way around as she lived up to her pre-tournament billing.

“To be honest, the only way I was going to win was to get her pushed back behind the shuttle, hit the corners and move in using my speed – and kind of annoy her,” said Bland.

“But she got there first. I am a little bit disappointed because talking a set off her was nice but then going down by that score in the third was disappointing.

“It would have been nice to stick with her and give her a hard time. I got to where my seed was so I’m happy with that. That’s where I wanted to get to though I would’ve liked to have played better.

“It ward hard in the halls – it’s defeated me as much as her. We both struggled with it and there was a moment in the second game when she wasn’t struggling with her length.

“She put quite a few out of the back, which gave me a nice game.”

While she reached the quarter-finals of the singles, Bland couldn’t repeat the trick in the women’s doubles as she and Claire Weaver lost in the first round.

They fell 20-22, 21-18, 21-12 to Lynnlette Aung and Jessica Hopton however Bland is adamant her performances in Manchester stand her in good stead for future tournaments.

“It’s part of my game really to fight to the end and give it my best. My aim is to keep getting stronger and keep winning tournaments,” she added.

“Sarah was just very powerful. She put me in the back corners and there’s not a great deal I can do about that. When I got height on my shuttle, and gave myself time in the rallies, I couldn’t finish it off.”

Next up, come & experience the world’s best players and London 2012 Olympians at the Yonex All England Open Badminton Championships. For more information visit www.allenglandbadminton.com