Badminton stars Imogen Bankier and Emma Mason are Scotland’s top double act.  In fact, if you study their track record, they are one of the most successful duos in Britain this year, and have genuine prospects for the Sudirman Cup, Badminton’s World Team Championships, being held from June 10th at the National Badminton Academy in Scotstoun, Glasgow. 

But for two young women who spend so much time together, it is amusing to see how much they differ, as In The Winning Zone found out on a visit to watch them training.

Imogen embodies intensity and focus.  Reluctantly dragged from the practice courts, she sits bolt upright, and there isn’t much time to spare before she is rushing back to train.  We rattle through our interview at break-neck speed.  Emma, on the other hand, strolls in casually, clearly relishing the opportunity to sit down and chill out for a few moments before another tough session, answering her questions thoughtfully and at length.

The contrast doesn’t stop there, but, as Imogen explained, their differences actually complement one another on the court: “I’ve got a good serve and I’m strong at the net, whereas Emma’s a really good mover and powerful from the back.”  However, she added, this doesn’t necessarily imply that each partner needs to compensate for the other’s weakness: “I think we work well together in that way, but we’ve also practiced a lot the other way around.  Emma’s worked a lot on her serve and net play, and I’ve worked on my rear courts.  It’s about working together, that’s the main thing.”

However the key to a successful partnership is a respectful, reciprocal working rapport, according to Imogen (who also plays mixed doubles with Watson Briggs): “I’m really good friends with both of my partners, and that helps, because if you don’t get on then you can’t gel or have good chemistry on court.  You’ve got to be communicating all the time, whether it’s about what you’re going to do, what you’re thinking, or what’s going to happen.”

One notable feature that both girls actually share is that neither of them are particularly tall, considering badminton is a sport where the net stands 5ft off the ground.  It seems, however, that this is something they picked up on long ago.

“It wasn’t exactly easy sailing when I was younger,” admits Emma.  “The girls in my age group were very, very strong and I was the weakest.  Imogen and I had similar backgrounds in terms of size and strength, but it never hindered the coaching I got.  In fact, I think it was beneficial in some ways because it meant that we never got anything easy, we were never automatically number one.  We both had to fight for things and I think that’s one of the reasons why we fight so hard now, because we had to when we were younger.”

And fight they have, never more so than in late 2006, where they topped off EBU (European Badminton Union) tournament wins in Iceland and Norway with triumph in the much-coveted Yonex Irish International Championships in December.  In March this year they progressed to the last 16 of the All England Championships, one of their best performances yet.  Those wins have set the girls on track to achieving their season ambition of breaking into the world’s top 25 doubles teams.

What is even more pleasing for the girls is that they have improved their performance vastly this season.  Such progress, says Emma, comes down to an increasing maturity in her and her partner’s game: “Tournaments that we’ve won this year we definitely would have lost last year, and that just comes from experience and knowing we’re good enough.”

And, of course, it also boils down to hard training.  Ability and skill may come naturally, but technique, condition and fitness only come after many hours of graft and honing.  Imogen is currently training with the UK Sport Olympic Squad in Milton Keynes, and she sees the benefits of upping the intensity: “I’m training with some of the best players in the world. When you’re here in Scotland you realise that you’re a big fish in a small pond, but going down there you get the hunger back to really train hard and think ‘I need to get a lot better’.  It’s much more competitive and the standard is much higher.  So you’re kind of fighting to keep up with people.”

Emma also knows what it feels like to step things up a level, and recognises that to improve, and keep winning, you must constantly challenge yourself.  No-one ever won a race by standing still: “Just after Christmas we went to Denmark and trained with some Chinese girls.  One of them won a silver medal at the World Championships a while ago.  And, basically, we got trampled on every day.” 

This may sound like straight-up punishment rather than a gentle learning curve, but the benefits outweigh the ‘trampling’, reckons Emma, and it helped her make the transition from junior to senior level:  “It’s difficult, but we learned so much from them.  Badminton is just about simplicity and being able to keep it going, maintaining everything.  The nature of our event is the ability to get yourself out of situations and just play yourself back in.  And I think that’s what we need to learn.  People would say we’ve made quite a good jump from junior to senior, but there is still another big step to go.”

So what is the next rung on the ladder for these two women who have already climbed so high in their sport?  “Our short term goals are to win at a major championship, but on the way we want to win medals at Commonwealth and European levels,” says Emma. “The event we are in is quite difficult because in ladies doubles you can’t really get up there.  The top five is pretty much dominated by the Chinese and no-one has broken it in the last 10 years.  That’s where we want to be, right up there.”

Imogen agrees wholeheartedly:  “I’d like to get to the top!  The Olympics in 2012 are the main thing I’m aiming for.  Right now it’s just about keeping up and getting the experience, and then when we get closer to the Olympics we need to be picking up as many points as possible to qualify.  It’s all down to hard work.”

The girls certainly have stars in their eyes, so at least they agree on something.  And judging by their desire, it will come as no surprise to see them making sparks fly in their quest to win an Olympic medal in 2012.

RO

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