WEYMOUTH’S Ryan Stout made his debut for the England under-21 team this week when he took part in World Under-21 Championships in Cyprus playing alongside Matt Hunter from Poole.
The two have played together for many years and, in preparation for the event, they have spent three weeks playing and training in Greece and Cyprus.
Unfortunately the pair came up against a very strong Russian combination Leshukov and Marglev in the first round and lost 21-12, 21-11.
Just how strong this Russian team were was shown in the next round when they defeated the Canadian number three seeds by a similar margin.
Although disappointed after the match, Stout said: “Every experience you get at this level you have to learn from and representing your country does not come around very often so we will learn from this and come back stronger still.”
Stout and Hunter are now set to compete in the Weymouth Beach Classic on August 2 and 3 and will be hoping to improve on their fifth place showing in 2013.
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