Isaac Ellul, who attends the National School of Sport, forms part of Birkirkara Badminton Club, and is the newly crowned U17 and U15 Boys’ Singles Junior National Champion, just got back to the Maltese shores from his participation in the International Open Badminton Bolzano which was held between the 30th November and 1st December 2019.
Isaac who had just turned 14 while travelling to Bolzano, left everyone in awe after clinching all of the U15 categories: Boys Singles, Boys Doubles and Mixed Double, without conceding a set to any of his opponents.
In the Mixed Doubles category, he was paired up with Carolin Rauner. Together with Carolin, Isaac won all his matches; 21-18 / 21-13 against second seeds David Spitaler and Sarah Langes, 21-7 / 21-8 against David Prosch and Giada Angioletti, and 21-9 / 21-16 against first seeds David Messner and Teresa Blaas.
He then got his Boys Doubles title partnered with David Messner in a round robin competition. The pair clinched the Boys Doubles U15 category after winning against Georg Ebner and Nikola Hingeri 21-3 / 21-3, against Alexander Giuliani and David Spitaler 21-12 / 21-12, and against David Prosch and Florin Stuflesser 21-11 / 21-11.
Finally, in the Boys Singles category Isaac managed to win first his group by beating Lukas Zuchristian 21-6 / 21-6, Alexander Giuliani 21-11 / 21-17 and Florin Stuflesser 21-12 / 21-1. Then in the main round he started his way from Quarter-Final up to the Final by beating progressively David Messner 21-12 / 21-11, David Spitaler in the Semi-Final 21-11 / 21-8, and eventually Moritz Luther 21-13 / 21-14 in the Final leaving the U15 and U17 National Champion with an unbeaten record throughout the International Tournament.
This augurs well for our junior champion as he showed great maturity on and off the court, and showing off some exceptional play and technique far higher than his expected age group and international opponents.
Together with Isaac, a number of Birkirkara Badminton Club players also travelled to Bolzano to participate in the open categories, and it is with great pleasure that we report the following achievements as well;
Women Doubles; Jointly 3rd place – Michaela Ellul/Fiorella Marie Sadowski and Yanika Polidano/Rebecca Spiteri
Mixed Doubles; 3rd place – Rebecca Spiteri partnered with Diego Scalvini