FORREST C got the better of GMT in a mid-table battle in the Bolton Badminton League B Section.

Fifth-placed Forrest got off to a good start against their sixth-placed visitors, winning the first five games.

Forrest’s Judith Mealor and John Mealor won the opening mixed games 21-13, 21-14 against Wendy Jones and Sayn Shah.

Anne Egerton and Chris Latham then won 21-13, 21-18 against GMT’s first pairing of Lesley Bates and Ralph Johnson.

When the third couples met Forrest’s Karen Holden and Mitesh Patel edged the first 22-20 before GMT’s determined pair of Margaret Barrett and Gunjan Parikh claimed the second comfortably 21-9.

The first couple’s clash was also shared, GMT’s Bates and Johnson winning the first 21-12, and Mealor and Mealor the second 21-14.

The second couples’ games were also shared when GMT hung on to take the first 24-22 and Egerton and Latham clinching the second 21-18.

Forrest were 7-3 ahead going into the level doubles and Holden and Mealor made it 9-3 when they won 21-17, 21-15 against Barrett and Bates in the first pair of ladies’ games.

GMT then held on to the chance of a draw when Parikh and Johnson won 21-17, 21-18 against Patel and Mealor in the first pair of men’s games.

Forrest ladies Holden and Egerton secured the win when they claimed their games 21-19, 21-15 against Barrett and Jones before Parikh and Shah made the scoreline more respectable for GMT by winning the last two games of the match, 21-10, 21-19, against Patel and Latham.

There was another 11-7 win in In D Section when fourth-placed Smithills got the better of sixth-placed Bolton Lads and Girls at their Horwich Leisure Centre home.

The opening games were shared when BLGC's second couple, Aisha Ashraf and Mohmad Hassen, won the first 21-19 and Diane Hunt and Malcolme Rolfe, Smithills' first couple, took the second 21-11.

BLGC's Nalisha Patel and Sana Ullah also shared their games, winning the first 21-10, and Chris Everitt and Barry Hilton taking the second 21-19.

When the third couples played Smithills' Diane Leigh and Tony Sames won both against Zayna Quereshi and George Butler, 21-12, 21-17.

When the first couples’ played BLGC’s Patel and Ullah claimed both games 21-17 from Hunt and Rolfe.

The second couples then had a really close battle, Ashraf and Hassen winning the first 22-20 and Everitt and Hilton the second 21-19.

The match was 5-5 going into the level doubles when Smithills’ Leigh and Hunt took the initiative and won both the first ladies’ games 21-10 against Quereshi and Patel.

The score was even again when BLGC’s Butler and Ullah claimed both games 21-19, 21-16, against Sames and Rolfe, and Smithills pulled ahead again when Leigh and Everitt beat Quereshi and Ashraf 21-8, 21-11 in the final ladies' games.

Hassen and Butler fought hard in the final men’s games but Smithills’ experience proved to be the winning factor, Sames and Hilton taking the games 21-17, 22-20 and the victory.