A YOUNG Northallerton College student made a promising debut as an England badminton player last weekend.

Luke Brudenell, who lives in Brompton, won two of his three doubles matches in the international team event against Denmark, Holland and Sweden.

In the individual two-day international tournament which followed, 15-year-old Luke won through to the quarter-finals of both the mixed doubles and men's doubles, beating two sets of opponents on the way in each category.

In his only singles match, Luke was unlucky enough to come up against the tournament's top seed, a Dane ranked top in Europe, and lost.

He said: "It was all about experience. I have wanted to play at this level and really enjoyed it. I felt I gave a reasonably good account of myself."

As for future prospects, the badminton season closes down soon until September or October, so Luke is not expecting to hear anything further just now.

But he was thrilled when England coach Peter Bush told him mixed doubles was his strength.