LATEST NEWS

CommonwealthGames silver medallists Andy Ellis and Sarah Walker will headline the newestteam to join the AJ Bell National Badminton League – the Suffolk Saxons – and headcoach Anthony Clark claims the side are raring to go as they prepare to gettheir inaugural campaign underway.

TheSaxons, who will play their home matches at Ipswich Corn Exchange, are one of the first teams to be added to the NBL roster since the league's establishment in 2014,and will become Suffolk's first professional badminton team.

Head coachClark, who competed at two Olympic Games for Great Britain, will experience theheart of the NBL for the first time after commentating for Sky Sports over thelast two seasons.

Hewelcomes Ellis and Walker to his team after the duo signed from Team Derby andBirmingham Lions respectively, and while Clark admits he may yet dust off hisracket and appear for the Saxons himself, he is thrilled to have such talent onboard.

“I wasasked quite a few months ago to be the head coach and manager of the team, andpotential player as well,” said the two-time World Championship silvermedallist.

“I'mreally looking forward to the season. Obviously it doesn't get started untilOctober but we're putting a really nice team together and hopefully we'll becompetitive next season with what we've got so far.

“HavingSarah and Andy on board is fantastic. They were actually a couple of the peopleI went for first.

We are very excited to announce Anthony Clark as Head Coach of the Suffolk Saxons pic.twitter.com/7dscusJQzz

— Suffolk Saxons (@SuffolkSaxons)

“AndyEllis, in particular, is a leader from the front and having seen him play inthe NBL over the last couple of seasons, he was one of the first people I wentto try and get on board.

“They're agreat package to have. Sarah brings good experience and good diversity in thatshe could even play singles, ladies doubles and mixed doubles.

“They'retwo great signings for us and it's great to have so much experience at theteam, and we're looking at bringing in some younger players in also.”

The thirdseason of the NBL, which boasts the likes of Chris and Gabby Adcock, RajivOuseph and Heather Olver among its players, will kick off in October.

And afterseeing both the crowds and interest in badminton increase year upon year, Clarkhas high hopes for the future of the tournament – insisting he can't wait tobring the sport to East Anglia.

“The NBLis massive,” he said. “Myself and players like Nathan Robertson, Gail Emms andDonna Kellogg always wanted something like this to be set up in our time.

“There wasalways talk of it happening but it never quite got off the ground, and that's acredit to what Badminton England have managed to do.

“There areso many good professional leagues around Europe so we just had to have one, andit's massive.

“I've beendoing the commentary on the NBL for a couple of seasons now alongside Nathanand it's been wonderful, it really has, and it's a really quirky way ofplaying.

“Thescoring system is different, you've got the power plays and the timeouts, andall that kind of thing and it's all really crowd friendly.

“Thecrowds have been fantastic, the noise they've made has been brilliant andthat's what we want to really try and enhance in Suffolk.

“We wantto bring real entertainment to the people of Suffolk and show them whatbadminton is.”