Heather Ward

Heather Ward
(married name Heather Nielsen)
Personal information
CountryEngland
BornOctober 1938 (age 86)[1]
Surrey
Medal record
Representing ENG
All England Open Badminton Championships
1958 London doubles
1959 London singles

Heather Maureen Ward (later Heather Nielsen; born October 1938) is a former English badminton 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 at the 1958 All England Badminton Championships (then the world's most prestigious tournament for individual competitors).[2] The following year Ward interrupted the reign of the great Judy Devlin (Hashman) by defeating her in the 1959 All England Badminton Championships women's singles final.[3] 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 to reach the final of women's singles before bowing to Japan's Etsuko Takenaka.[4] Continuing to compete, she was an All-England singles quarter-finalist as late as 1975.[5]

She married Egon Nielsen and they had four children Bjorn, Gorm, Belinda and Anders Nielsen.[6]

Achievements

International tournaments (11 titles, 10 runners-up)

Women's singles

Year Tournament Opponent Score Result
1956 Scottish Open Iris Rogers 11–6, 4–11, 5–11 Runner-up
1957 Irish Open Iris Rogers 9–12, 12–11, 1–11 Runner-up
1958 Scottish Open Iris Rogers 6–11, 11–3, 11–4 Winner
1958 Welsh International P. E. Broad 11–1, 11–4 Winner
1959 Irish Open Iris Rogers 11–4, 11–8 Winner
1959 All England Open Judy Devlin 11–7, 3–11, 11–4 Winner
1966 Dutch Open Angela Bairstow 7–11, 11–8, 5–11 Runner-up
1970 All England Open Etsuko Takenaka 3–11, 4–11 Runner-up

Women's doubles

Year Tournament Partner Opponent Score Result
1956 Scottish Open M. Crockett Iris Rogers
June Timperley 		7–15, 3–15 Runner-up
1957 Irish Open Barbara Carpenter Iris Rogers
June Timperley 		13–18, 15–11, 2–15 Runner-up
1957 Swedish Open Hanne Roest Iris Rogers
June Timperley 		2–15, 7–15 Runner-up
1958 Scottish Open Barbara Carpenter Iris Rogers
June Timperley 		13–15, 7–15 Runner-up
1958 All England Open Margaret Varner Bloss Iris Rogers
June Timperley 		15–12, 15–2 Winner
1958 Welsh International P. E. Broad B. Maxwell
J. Davidson 		15–5, 15–6 Winner
1959 Irish Open Barbara Carpenter Iris Rogers
June Timperley 		6–15, 5–15 Runner-up
1959 Belgian International Barbara Carpenter Tonny Holst-Christensen
Inger Kjærgaard 		15–8, 15–9 Winner
1966 Denmark Open Imre Rietveld Karin Jørgensen
Ulla Strand 		4–15, 12–15 Runner-up
1966 Dutch Open Jenny Horton Agnes Geene
Imre Rietveld 		17–14, 15–3 Winner
1974 Swedish Open Barbara Giles Brigitte Steden
Marieluise Wackerow 		6–15, 15–13, 15–10 Winner

Mixed doubles

Year Tournament Partner Opponent Score Result
1958 Welsh International Hugh Findlay Tony Jordan
P. E. Broad 		15–11, 15–7 Winner
1959 Belgian International Hugh Findlay Ronald Lockwood
Barbara Carpenter 		15–11, 15–11 Winner

References

  1. ^ "1938 births". Free BMD.
  2. ^ Herbert Scheele ed., The International Badminton Federation Handbook for 1971 (Canterbury, Kent, England: J. A. Jennings Ltd., 1971) 166.
  3. ^ Scheele, 163.
  4. ^ Scheele, 164.
  5. ^ Pat Davis, The Guinness Book of Badminton (Enfield, Middlesex, England: Guinness Superlatives Ltd., 1983) 162.
  6. ^ "Badminton mourns Anders Nielsen". Badminton England.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.