City badminton ace hopes change will bring rewards
ALYSSA Lim plans to use the experience gained from a fruitful long-term partnership with Jess Fletcher to build a successful relationship with new mixed doubles partner Marcus Ellis.
GB Badminton announced significant changes to doubles pairings last month, in particular the mixed, with 21-year-old Lim, from Milton Keynes, one of many affected.
While Lim and Fletcher have stayed together in the women’s doubles, she has now joined forces with Ellis in the mixed, ending spells playing alongside Peter Mills and Ben Stawski.
The move has been designed to help rising talent break into the world’s top 100 in mixed doubles, something Lim was unable to do with either Mills or Stawski.
Alongside Fletcher, Lim is ranked comfortably inside the top 80 in the world, and she believes joining forces with Ellis will see an improvement in her mixed doubles game.
“We’re a new partnership, so we’re quite new in training, and just getting used to how each other play on court,” said Lim.
“It’s been OK so far – we’ve only had a couple of sessions together and there’s a few little things to sort out but so far it all looks good.
“Jess and I have been a more long-running partnership, and that’s the level I’d like things to get to with Marcus and I.
“With Jess, we both feel more settled, and we know each other’s games really well. It’s a work in progress.”
While being content with her progression alongside Fletcher, Lim believes they can become even better now they are training together more regularly in Milton Keynes.
Moving to the National Badminton Centre has already proved beneficial to their partnership according to Lim, and she is determined to build on a solid 2012.
“It’s better now because we have come together in Milton Keynes – Jess used to train in Leeds and myself in Birmingham,” she added. “That made it difficult to make progress in the way we would like because we couldn’t train together.
“We’re already seeing the benefits of that on court. It’s good to train with some of the top players in the country, which is always bound to improve you in the long run and as a partnership as well it’s working wonders.
“I hope I can have a successful season in 2013 with Jess and with Marcus. We just need to keep working hard in training and hopefully we will feel the benefits in competition.”
Tickets for every day of the English National Badminton Championships are available at www.nationalbadmintonchamps.co.uk or call the box office on 0844 5811 424.
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Sunday 19 May 2013
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