Julie Bradbury revealed that she almost didn’t take part after successfully retaining her title at the World Senior Masters Championships in Canada.

The 44-year-old, from Drayton, near Abingdon, only decided at the last minute to travel to Vancouver to defend the over 40 mixed doubles crown she won in Spain two years ago with Nick Ponting.

But teaming up again with Cheltenham-based Ponting, and with her 11-year-old daughter Molly Naylor there to watch, she triumphed again as they defeated fellow British pair Chris Hunt and Tracey Dineen 21-18, 21-16 in the final at Richmond Olympic Oval.

“It is just really nice to win it again and defend our title,” she said. “I was not going to go out there, but went at the last minute.

“It was just the cost. It is quite expensive, but my daughter was able to come and watch me as well, which was nice.

“We were 16-14 down in the second and I served to take it to 20-16 and then we won, so it was quite a good finish to the match.”

Bradbury, who runs a badminton academy at Bisham Abbey, and Ponting won five matches to capture the crown.

They swept aside Canadians Denise Julienne and Brian Blanchard 21-8, 21-6 in the semi-finals, after defeating another Canadian pair and two Chinese Taipei pairs in the earlier rounds.

Youngsters Ashley Garrison and Joe Roberts began their season with medal-winning performances.

Garrison, from Witney, achieved his bronze grading, while Roberts, from Brize Norton, collected his silver grading at the Berkshire Under 15 tournament held over the weekend in Reading.

Roberts then teamed up with Dan Blair, from Didcot, won the gold medal in the doubles, beating Robert Mickelwright and Tom Owen, from Kent, 21-14 in the final.

Blair also took the gold medal in the boys’ singles.