WILTSHIRE'S Rebecca French teamed up with Oxfordshire's Julia Froud to win the 2007 Yehlex Badminton Bonanza Under 15s Girls Doubles in the NEC at Birmingham.

Her success was even more spectacular due to the fact that just prior to the tournament she was close to not competing as she could not find a partner to play with her.

Organisers had written to French telling her that she could not compete as they could not find her a partner.

Fortunately though Froud was found at the last minute to team up with French and take the spoils.

The pair, who teamed up just for the event, won their final match 21-16, against an Oxfordshire pair to take the title.

Up until then it looked like the best they could achieve would be the runners-up spot after losing an earlier match 21-20.

But a late defeat of the tournament leaders left the title wide open.

Any of three pairs could have won in the last round of games.

The advantage was with French and Froud as they had only lost by one point in that earlier defeat and would need to beat their final opposition to take the title, which they duly did.

Other Wiltshire competitors were Daniel Butler and Aaron French who took part in the singles and doubles Adult League events.

Over 600 competitors from all over the world competed in the two-day event in categories from Under 13 to Over 60s.