Angela Bairstow (1942-2016) was an English international

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players pe ...

player.

Badminton career

She first came to prominence in 1958 when she won the English National Junior singles title. Further wins followed in 1959 and 1960; in addition she won four English National Junior doubles titles. After the step up to senior competition she reached the final of the 1963 All England Badminton Championships singles losing out to

Judy Hashman Judy Devlin (later Judy Hashman) (born 22 October 1935 in Winnipeg, Manitoba) is a former badminton player who won more major international titles than any other player of her era. Devlin began playing badminton with her Irish-born father Frank D ...

. In 1963 at the All England Championships she was seeded to win in the Singles, Doubles and the Mixed. Although never winning an All England title Bairstow became a significant player for England winning a host of titles from 1964-1968 including the Scottish Open, German Open, Dutch Open, Asia Cup, Irish Open,

English National Badminton Championships The English National Badminton Championships is a tournament organised by the Badminton England to crown the best badminton players in England. The tournament started in 1964 and is held annually. The first winners were Bill Havers and Ursula ...

and

European Badminton Championships The European Badminton Championships is a tournament organized by the Badminton Europe (BE). The first of these competitions was held in 1968. The competition was held once every two years to determine the best badminton players in Europe. Europ ...

. In 1965 Bairstow won the Dutch open in Singles, Doubles and Mixed in the same year with another three Dutch titles afterwards. She repeated the triple at the second Asian Championships in 1965 in Lucknow. After which the organisers banned non-Asian players from entering. Bairstow brought to prominence a deceptive backhand sliced serve and flick. She remains as one of the few players who won medals in both Asian and European Championships. Bairstow represented

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and won two golds and one silver medal, at the

1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games The 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games were held in Kingston, Jamaica, from 4 to 13 August 1966. This was the first time that the Games had been held outside the so-called White Dominions. They were followed by the 1966 Commonwealth P ...

in Kingston,

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

Personal life

She married her coach, H. Ian Palmer, in 1970 and had three children (born 1969, 1970 and 1972) and four grandchildren.

Medal Record at the
All England Badminton Championships The All England Open Badminton Championships is the world's oldest badminton tournament, held annually in England. With the introduction of the BWF's latest grading system, it was given Super Series status in 2007, upgraded to Super Series Premie ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bairstow, Angela English female badminton players 1942 births Badminton players at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games medallists in badminton Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England 2016 deaths