Heather Maureen Ward (later Heather Nielsen; born 1938) is a former English

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 who won international championships and competed at an elite level during a two decade span from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s.

Biography

Noted for her grace and athleticism, she won women's doubles with American

Margaret Varner Margaret Varner Bloss (born October 4, 1927) is a retired American athlete and professor of physical education from El Paso, Texas who excelled in three distinctly different racket sports: badminton, squash, and tennis. She is the only person to ...

at the

1958 All England Badminton Championships The 1958 All England Championships was a badminton tournament held at Wembley, London, England, from 19–23 March 1958. Final results Results Men's singles Section 1 =Section 2= Women's singles Section 1 Section 2 References {{ ...

(then the world's most prestigious tournament for individual competitors). The following year Ward interrupted the reign of the great Judy Devlin (Hashman) by defeating her in the

1959 All England Badminton Championships The 1959 All England Championships was a badminton tournament held at Wembley, London, England, from 18 to 21 March 1959. Final results Results Men's singles Section 1 =Section 2= Women's singles Section 1 Section 2 +Denotes seed ...

women's singles final. During the 1960s her badminton career was hampered by a variety of factors including athletic injury, marriage and motherhood, and residence in South Africa. In 1970, however, she returned to the

1970 All England Badminton Championships The 1970 All England Championships was a badminton tournament held at Wembley Arena, London, England, from 18–22 March 1970. Final results Agnes Geen married and became Agnes Van der Meulen, Marjan Ridder married and became Marjan Luesken ...

to reach the final of women's singles before bowing to Japan's Etsuko Takenaka. Continuing to compete, she was an All-England singles quarter-finalist as late as 1975. She married Egon Nielsen and they had four children Bjorn, Gorm, Belinda and

Anders Nielsen Anders Nielsen may refer to: * Anders Nielsen (politician) (1862–1914), Danish farmer, editor, politician, and Minister for Agriculture * Anders Nielsen (badminton) (1967–2010), English badminton player * Anders Nielsen (footballer, born 1970), ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, Heather English female badminton players 1938 births Living people