Durham University Men’s 1st team return to action in 2015 needing just one win to secure promotion to the top flight of university badminton. 

Durham will clinch promotion to the BUCS Premier Division with a win from any of their final three games, after seven wins from seven so far this season.

Club President Martin Woodhall said: “We’re aiming to continue our winning streak with a bit of a whitewash, we’re definitely confident of promotion.

“I think it will be an incredible step for Durham badminton. I think it would be the first time we have ever actually been in the Premiership.

“It helps us put badminton on the map, compared to other sports which get more attention such as the rowing and the tennis.”

The unbeaten Men’s 1st team has been made up of Woodhall, Mike Roe, Ryan McCarthy, Josh Males, Philip Pereira, Ben Birks, Gary He and Mantej Bahra with Roe and McCarthy both capped at international level.

Woodhall said: “I’ve been incredibly impressed with the performances.

“All round they have been fantastic there haven’t been many hiccups as I can remember, everything is tip top and it will continue that way hopefully.”

Durham currently top of BUCS Northern 1A and are six points clear of nearest rivals the University of Liverpool, who they beat 5-3 back in October, their closest scoreline of the season.

However, Woodhall picked out their 6-2 victory over the University of Manchester as an “epic battle.”

He added: “We have had some incredible performances from Mike and Ben in the Men’s singles side of things.

“On the doubles side we’ve also done quite well. We’ve had some variation in the pairs but we’ve all done pretty well as a unit and have got the results.”

With the Men’s 1st team flying high Woodhall also believes this has had “a knock on effect” with the club’s other teams.

Durham’s Women’s 2nd and 3rd teams currently sit first and second in Northern Division 3B, the Men’s 2nd team joint top of Northern Division 3B while the Men’s 3rds also lead their division.

Woodhall said: “We’ve had the top players come in over the last couple of seasons and they’ve been able to help us out at training, teach us, and generally lead with a winning attitude into games, as opposed to turning up with a defeatist attitude, which really helps.”

Looking to next season he added: “We’re looking for new recruits actually, for some high performance badminton players to help us stay in the first division, assuming we get there of course

Durham’s first match of 2015 sees them face the University of Manchester at Queens Campus Sports Centre on Wednesday February 5 from 1pm.