The University Nottingham notched up eleven podium finishes at the recent BUCS Nationals in Sheffield at the weekend, bringing home two golds, two silvers and seven bronze medals across a multiplicity of disciplines. 6000 student athletes descended on the steel city in what is the largest annual multi-sport event in the country.
The Green and Gold dazzled on the Badminton courts, with UoN duo Li Lian Yang and Phone Pyae Naing proving dominant. Li Liang Yang produced a defence of her Women’s Badminton Singles title from BUCS Nationals 2017, coasting to towards a final in which she would claim gold through a straight sets victory. Meanwhile, Phone Pyae Naing took Bronze in the Men’s Singles. The duo formed a formidable pairing, which in the Mixed Doubles category saw them clinch gold after turning a seven point deficit into a 22-20 first set win, before sealing victory with a comfortable 21-15 win in the final set. UoN’s racquet-based prowess was further put on display when Sam Smith and Harry Arksey won Bronze in the Men’s Badminton Doubles.
Polly Holden demolished not just the majority of her opposition, but also her own personal records as she swam her way to two podium finishes. With 8:46:14 in the Women’s 800m Freestyle, Holden had shaved an impressive fifteen seconds off her previous best for that distance to claim silver. Deploying the same stroke, her first championships produced further glory and improvement when Holden took three seconds off her time in the 400m distance, enough to clinch Bronze and add another medal to her tally for a Freestyle event.
UoN Swimming hero Polly Holden
Hayley Mills was another Uni of athlete not satisfied with a solitary one medal. Coming back from a difficult injury the spell, the Phd student entered the event hoping to reach the final, but her memorable 7.62 run in the 60m gave her the silver and kick-started UoN’s impressive medal run at the EIS (English Institute of Sport). Uni of collected another athletics medal when Mills competed in the 200m where she was beaten on the line but still worthy of a silver medal.
Rio 2016 Paralympian Tim Jeffrey was awarded bronze in the Short Range Rifle after shooting 100 & 97 in the final round to recover from a rough start to his first championships.
Jack Goody would cap off a fantastic weekend for the green and gold when he built on UoN’s Men’s Team Kumite bronze by sealing one last medal of that colour in the Men’s Senior Kumite -63kgs.
#BUCSNationals | Battling Bronze ????- Jack Goody fights his way to a Karate bronze medal in the Men's Senior Kumite defeating his opponent from NTU in the -63kgs category #UoNSport #GreenandGold pic.twitter.com/nkIHRlIRuV
— UoN Sport (@UoNSport) February 18, 2018
With the 129 athletes representing the University of Nottingham managing a bumper medal haul, credit must also be given to the organisational and performance staff who help make such impressive individual displays possible. Their collective work will be on the big stage once again on the 21 March, when the BUCS team sports season comes to a close as the University of Nottingham host Big BUCS Wednesday at the David Ross Sports Village.
Tom Monks
Images: UoN Sport
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