University of Nottingham athletes recently travelled to Madrid for the 2025 European Universities Badminton Championships, delivering outstanding performances to bring home a number of medals and three European titles across both the singles and doubles competitions.
The championships took place in Spain's capital city from the 22nd to the 28th June, and the travelling contingent of University of Nottingham badminton players would arrive in the city ready to take on their peers from universities across the continent.
Competitive action began on Monday 23rd June, with the #GreenandGold entering the three day team tournament which began with a preliminary group round. The Nottingham squad of Samuel Smith, Jacob Weekes, Zhou Meng, Yiyi Tao, Shashwat Dalal, Joseph Scott, Abigail Hong, Luke Griffith, Susanna Ogden, and Chloe Dennis, were placed in group B alongside the University of Innsbruck, University of Bonn, and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.
Team tournament fixtures would consist of five matches - one each of men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles. After only dropping one match across the three fixtures, Nottingham advanced to the semi finals where they would face the University of Strasbourg. In a highly competitive affair, the French side would narrowly take the victory, which meant that the University of Nottingham would begin the championships by winning team bronze. Incidentally, this medal would be the 50th to be won by the University in EUSA (European University Sports Association) competition history.
The final three days of the championships moved into the individual singles and doubles tournaments, with Jacob Weekes and Susanna Ogden advancing through to the semi finals of the mixed doubles without dropping a set along the way to secure another medal. However, the duo would come up against familiar foe in the final four as they took on the team of Maria Stoliarenko and Nicolas Hoareau from the University of Strasbourg. In another close encounter, it would be Strasbourg who edged a 2-1 victory, meaning another excellent bronze medal would be added to Nottingham's tally.
The women's doubles would see similar success in the early rounds for the Nottingham pair of Zhou Meng and Yiyi Tao as they powered through to the semi finals without dropping a set. However, this time the 2-1 victory would fall the way of the University of Nottingham as Meng and Tao defeated Volskaya and Khomich form the Gdansk University of Technology to reach the final. In no great surprise, the University of Strasbourg team of Stoliarenko and Schaffner would be their opponents, but this time it would be the University of Nottingham pair celebrating as they wrapped up the Women's Doubles title with a nerveless 21-19 victory in the third set to secure a 2-1 win and the gold medal.
University of Nottingham sport scholar Zhou Meng would follow up this victory by impressively adding to her gold medal tally by also winning the Women's Singles title to become a double European champion. Delivering a string of impressive performances, Meng emphatically won her second gold after reaching the final by winning every match 2-0, and defeating Mariia Koriahina from the Ukrainian National University of Shipbuilding named after Admiral Makarov by another 2-0 score line.
In the Men's Singles, Nottingham's Shashwat Dalal would not be outdone by his team mate as he would also assert his dominance in the competition by claiming 2-0 victory after 2-0 victory to secure a place in the final. Here, Dalal would play Jean Bernard Alex Bongout from the University of Strasbourg, and it would again be the Nottingham athlete who would claim victory. With another 2-0 (21-16, 21-13) final win, Dalal became the third University of Nottingham badminton player to become a European Champion in 2025.
The performances of University of Nottingham student athletes at the 2025 European Universities Badminton Championships ensured that Nottingham finished second in the overall medal table with a total of five medals, three of which would be gold. We would like congratulate everyone involved in this incredible success, from athletes to coaches and support staff.
You can find all results from the 2025 European Universities Badminton Championships by visiting the official website here: EUC Badminton 2025 | EUSA
If you'd like to find out more about the Performance Badminton programme at the University of Nottingham, please visit our dedicated web page here: Performance Badminton