CHARLOTTE Bardsley reached the last 32 of the singles and last 16 of the doubles when she represented England at the European Youth Championships in Portugal.
The Stourbridge youngster, who attends Heathfield School in Kidderminster, started well in the Cadet Girls’ Singles, beating Kristyna Penkavova of the Czech Republic 4-2 (5-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-9, 7-11, 11-7) in the first round.
But she was defeated at the next stage by Poland’s Elzbieta Kwiatowska by a scoreline of 4-2 (5-11, 8-11, 11-8, 12-14, 11-8, 11-9).
In the Cadet Girls’ Doubles, Bardsley and Czech partner Linda Zaderova defeated Foteini Meletie and Christina Panayiotou of Cyprus 3-1 (11-7, 11-5, 9-11, 11-5) in the last 32.
But their last-16 tie saw them defeated 3-0 (11-3, 11-2, 11-9) by Ozge Yilmaz and Ece Harac of Turkey.
In the mixed doubles, Bardsley played alongside Ireland’s Owen Cathcart but they were beaten 3-0 (11-9, 11-4, 11-8) by David Bessa and Silvia Santos of the host nation.
In the team event, Bardsley was joined in the England squad by Megan Gidney. Despite a 3-0 victory over Greece in the group stage, defeats by Germany and Czech Republic left England in the play-offs for positions 16-24.
Bardsley, aged 14, picked up some good singles wins but could not prevent defeats to Bulgaria, Spain and Sweden, leaving England in the 23rd-24th play-off against Slovenia – and they finished on a high with a 3-0 victory.
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