Last
updated: 12/04/08
Sheffield hosts first ever BUSA
championships
Between
March 13-16 the BUSA Championships took place in Sheffield - the first
time that 20 different university sport finals had taken place in one
city. Seb Coe commented that ‘our universities have a rich tradition
for producing some of the country’s finest athletes’ and
this proved to be the case in Sheffield as some of the best young talent
shone on the multi-sport stage. With the Athletics, Football trophy
and Boxing BUSA Championship reports featured in separate reports, here
is a summary of the results in the other sports.
Hockey
Loughborough
walked away from the Abbeydale Sports Club with heads held high after
completing a double of men’s and women’s BUSA Championships.
In one of the championships shock results the men’s side overwhelmed
Bath 7-1, while the women had a closer match overcoming Durham 3-2.
Loughborough hockey club almost made it a perfect day as the men’s
2nds matched Exeter 2nds all the way to the final whistle, only for
Exeter to win in extra time with a golden goal making the final score
2-1. In the women’s Trophy Nottingham defeated Birmingham 2nds
2-1 in another very close final.
Badminton
Bath had another successful day in the badminton competition as their
men’s and women’s team returned home with the BUSA Championship
titles. The men’s Championship saw Bath defeat Bristol in the
semi final in a love match, before struggling to overcome Loughborough
in the final.
In the women’s Championship it was the same story as Bath overcame
a strong Loughborough side, being separated only by sets 9-8 after the
match ended 4-4. The Bath men’s 2’s had an easier ride in
the Trophy final defeating Brunel 7-1, while in the women’s equivalent
local advantage showed as Sheffield overcame Newcastle.
Basketball
The women’s Basketball Championship was arguably the closest final
at the Championships. With the score tied on 79-79 and only 4 seconds
left on the clock in the 4th quarter UWIC were awarded two free throws.
Rebecca Short converted one but missed the next to make the score 80-79.
With 4 seconds left Northumbria rushed forward and shot a long downtown
effort which circled the hoop before dropping in.
Unfortunately for Northumbria the shot was released fractions after
the hooter and UWIC celebrated a one point victory. In the men’s
final Worcester, three time BUSA Champions, lost their 2006 title to
a very strong London South Bank side.
The team from the capital took the match 90-84 after a great Most Valuable
Player performance from Papa Demba-Kasse.
Climbing
The climbing Championships took place at Sheffield’s Climbing
Works and the locals dominated proceedings with the University of Sheffield
walking away with all three titles. In the men’s individuals Edward
Feehaly (Sheffield) went one better than his 2007 silver to take Gold
while Daniel Varian (Sheffield) improved on bronze last year to take
second spot.
Lilly Fitzgibbon (Sheffield) followed her team mates with victory in
the women’s individual Championship while the team as a whole
showed their superiority taking team Gold.
Fencing
Northumbria took home the BUSA men’s Fencing Championship after
overcoming Cambridge 113-110 in the final at the Don Valley Stadium.
The women’s Championship final went to the wire with Oxford defeating
Edinburgh by just one hit, 115- 114. Kings College took the men’s
Trophy title with a superb performance against Aberdeen 127-106 while
Queen Mary’s took the women’s Trophy with a 122-120 winning
display against Swansea.
Football
With the BUSA football Championship finals taking place at Loftus Road
on the 7 May 2008 it was the Trophy, Shield, Plate and Vase competitions’
time to shine at the British University Championships.
The women’s trophy was won by a single goal as Liverpool John
Moores overcome Leeds 2-1. Manchester defeated Cumbria on penalties
in the Men’s Shield Final while Leeds Met 2’s enjoyed a
4-2 victory over Southampton in the women’s Shield.
Karate
The Concord Centre played host to the BUSA Karate Championship finals
as competitors fought it out in the Kumite and Kata weighted finals.
In the Kata category Cambridge took the team Kata Championship with
some great individual performances while in the Kumite team event Bath
walked away with the title after some great perfomances in the novice
categories.
The performance of the day belonged to Calum Robb (Heriot Watt) who
won both the men’s senior over 80kgs Kumite and the men’s
senior open competition.
Lacrosse
The BUSA Lacrosse Championships took place in the great surroundings
of Mount St Mary’s College as Cambridge took the Gold in the women’s
final and Oxford returned home with the men’s title. England under-19
starlet Kate Morland’s hat trick made her the star of the show
in the women’s final as Cambridge defeated Birmingham 11-7.
In the men’s final it was a last minute goal that gave Oxford
an 11-10 victory over Edinburgh.
Netball
The BUSA netball finals took place at the EIS Sheffield with all eyes
on the Championship final on Sunday evening. It was Bath who performed
better on the night with some clinical finishing and some quick sharp
passing, taking the game to Loughborough and winning 66-46.
The Loughborough Netball Club didn’t have an entirely disastrous
weekend though as the 2nd team overcame Exeter in the women’s
Trophy 51-25.
Orienteering
The BUSA Orienteering Individual and Relay Championships took place
at Stanton Moor, Near Matlock, Derbyshire and at Beeley Woods, Sheffield,
South Yorkshire as Edinburgh took the team title back to Scotland. Edinburgh
finished first (Scott Fraser), second (Hector Haines) and third (Oleg
Cheplin) in the Men’s A Race. Helen Winskill (Sheffield Hallam)
finished first in the Women’s A Race with team mate Jenny Johnson
second. Sheffield University took victory in the Men’s Relay and
Sheffield Hallam took victory in the Women’s Relay.
Rugby
Leeds Met Carnegie continued their dominance of university rugby league
with convincing performances for both the 1st and 2nd teams at Mount
St Mary’s College. The 1st team took the men’s Championship
with a 14-6 victory over Loughborough while the 2nd team overpowered
Cumbria with a scoreline of 40-10.
Squash
Birmingham University dominated squash this season and took the men’s
& women’s Championships and men’s & women’s
Trophies back to the midlands. In the men’s Championships Birmingham
won in straight sets against Manchester and the women followed suit
by beating Leeds 4-0, 4-0 in the Final.
In the Trophy finals the men’s and women’s 2nd strings for
Birmingham defeated Loughborough 2nds and Bath 2nds respectively.
Swimming
In the BUSA swimming team finals the University of Bath dominated all
events in the Championship with almost a clean sweep of gold’s.
It was left to Edinburgh and Loughborough to spoil the party by taking
one Gold a piece in the women’s 100m Freestyle and 200m freestyle
respectively.
Table Tennis
London Met took both the men’s and women’s Table Tennis
Championships back to the capital with relative ease. The men’s
Championship saw London Met overcome Loughborough with a great performance,
winning 10-1 in the final.
In the women’s Championship London Met took the best of 5 matches
3-0 against Sheffield. In the men’s Trophy final Manchester ran
out 9-1 against York winners.
Tennis
Following on from a great performance in the table tennis London Met
made sure it was a successful weekend for racquet sports by taking the
BUSA men’s tennis Championship.
The men’s 1st team overcame Exeter 10-0 in the Championship semi
final before defeating Loughborough 9-1 in the final. The women’s
Championship ended in a marathon
6 ½ hour final as Loughborough eventually overcame London Met
5-5 and 2-0 in the tie break. In the Trophy finals London Met 2nds had
a love match against Loughborough 2nds in the finals, winning 10-0,
while Bath 2nds beat Loughborough 2nds in the women’s Trophy final
7-3.
Volleyball
Home advantage was the key in the men’s Volleyball as Sheffield
Hallam defeated Cambridge in the Championship final 2-0. In the women’s
Championship London (ULU) dominated, winning every game in straight
sets and overcoming Loughborough in the final with a 2-0 score-line.
Kent took the men’s Trophy competition by overcoming Leeds 3-0
in the final while Aberdeen had the same result against Reading in the
women’s final.
Waterpolo
Bristol defeated Cardiff, Manchester and Sheffield on route to taking
the BUSA men’s Championship waterpolo title. In the women’s
Championship Cardiff overcame Loughborough, Manchester and Edinburgh
in their Championship pool, improving on their silver from last year.
Bristol took the women’s trophy back to the West Country after
defeating MMU Cheshire while Birmingham took the last remaining silverware
with victory over Cambridge in the men’s
Trophy final.
by
George Kotschy
