LATEST NEWS

BRISTOL Jets may have fallen to defeat on their AJ Bell NationalBadminton League debut but Chris Coles could not have been prouder aftercaptaining his home town club against Team Derby.

After sitting out Match Night 1 last month, Bristol Jets madetheir first ever AJ Bell NBL appearance on Monday night when they took on theinaugural champions from 2015.

Coles was himself a part of that title-winning side but made theswitch to join the West Country outfit in July 2016, with head coach RebeccaPantaney describing him as a 'real leader'.

Unfortunately for Coles on this occasion, he was unable to leadhis side to victory on Monday with the tie having already been settled in TeamDerby's favour by the time he took to the court in the men's doubles, last upalongside Richard Eidestedt.

They were up against Rio 2016 bronze medallist Marcus Ellis andOllie Baczala and, while losing out 9-8 9-5 9-4 as Team Derby wrapped up a 4-1overall win on the night, Coles was keen to look at the positives.

“It's an absolute pleasure for me to captain this team this year,and is a big reason why I left Derby and that was a big decision, believe me,”he said.

“Not only to represent my home team but the prospect ofpotentially being captain and now I have got to instil that into all the otherplayers that it is a do or die attitude out there.

“I learnt with Team Derby that every game counts and we could havewon 3-2 tonight, that could have had a big impact towards the end of theseason.

“The Bristol Sport franchise is huge with the football, rugby,basketball and now badminton in Bristol, so it's a fantastic set up and I can'twait to see what kind of a show we put on for our home fixtures.

Fans can expect something loud and exciting and that's what wewant badminton to become.”

Ben Lane and Emily Westwood took on the responsibility of openingBristol Jets' AJ Bell NBL campaign, although they lost out to Ellis and AmandaHogstrom 3-0, with Nicola Cerfontyne suffering a similar defeat in the women'ssingles to Lyddia Cheah Yi Yu.

Mizuki Fujii and Jess Hopton then almost pulled a point back inthe women's doubles but fell to experienced duo Kate Robertshaw and LaurenSmith on a tie-break as Team Derby sealed the win.

And while Alex Lane provided reason to cheer for the visitors witha 3-0 win over Ryan Quek in the men's singles, Coles and Eidestedt were unableto add to it, losing 3-0 last up.

“That was an incredibly tough game tonight but we knew that beforewe came here because, for me, Derby are the best team in the league,” addedColes.

“We knew that Raj (Ouseph) was doubtful so that gave us a littlebit of belief that if we could take the mixed and get 2-2 going into the men'sdoubles then in this format, as we know, anything can happen. But it'scompletely different when they've already won the match.

“But I'm a fighter and I don't to lose any matches and I willalways voice my frustrations on and off the court.”

Click  HERE