SHE may not have got her hands on the trophy at the National Badminton League Finals Day but Jenny Wallwork insists she can still feel proud about helping put the sport back on the map.

This year saw the first ever NBL season, which involved six teams, battling it out in the league to secure one of four play-off places at the K2 Crawley on Sunday.

Wallwork, who was born in Bolton, represented Loughborough Sport this campaign and she didn’t disappoint, winning her women’s doubles match alongside Chloe Birch to help her side see off table toppers Surrey Smashers 5-0 and set up a final against Team Derby.

The double Commonwealth Games medallist then repeated the trick against Lydia Powell and Tiara Samuel in the final.

But Team Derby eventually took the title after Karin Schnaase won the fifth and decisive women’s singles rubber, although Wallwork insisted she had still relished being a part of history.

“It would have been fantastic to have won the first ever NBL title in the first ever NBL final, it would have been an amazing achievement,” she said.

“Loughborough as a team, the ethos and general support from each member of the team has been fantastic, so it would have been nice to have finished with a win.

“We believed we could win, but unfortunately Team Derby were a strong team too.

“I think the NBL has had a positive impact, it’s something different, it’s something we haven’t done before and I think we really needed something in England to start to get more players involved in the sport because I think as a country we were struggling to do that.

“I think by having this, it gets more people into the sport and it’s been exciting, different. All the players have definitely enjoyed playing it.”

After their impressive Play-Off win over Surrey Smashers, Loughborough Sport got off to a slow start in the final with Peter Briggs and Greg Mairs going down to Andy Ellis and Chris Coles.

Birch and Wallwork levelled the tie with victory over Powell and Samuel before Rajiv Ouseph wrestled the initiative back for Derby with victory over Henri Hurskainen.

Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith then defeated Martin Campbell and Gail Emms in the mixed doubles to set up the decider, which finally went the way of Team Derby after Schnaase beat Linda Zetchiri

“We were hoping to get the team back on the board after the men’s doubles,” added Wallwork.

“The boys played well but we wanted to get that momentum back into the match and hopefully carry that on for the rest of the team.

“We wanted to play well and we wanted to play solid and we managed to do that in our games so I’m happy with my performance on a whole. We took a lot of confidence out of the Surrey game, we just couldn’t get the final win.”

For NBL Finals Day reaction, photos and video visit nationalbadmintonleague.co.uk.