Garron Palmer took top honours at the inaugural University of Technology (UTech) Singles Challenge Series Badminton Tournament, following a 21-16, 21-12 win over Vijay Miles in the open final on Sunday.

The top seed, Gareth Henry, failed to make an appearance in the semis where Palmer, seeded third, had put out second seed Kashif Bernard.

The Ladies Open was cancelled due to a shortage of entries. Due to this situation, Stacy-Ann Blake, who won the Ladies B title, was accorded the tournament's female champion.

Blake defeated the second seed, Shana-Kay Bailey, 18-21, 21-18, 21-17 in their final.

Top seed Mikaylia Haldane did not participate.

Meanwhile, Che Beckford won the B division, defeating Joslyn Davis 21-18, 21-14 and Jonathan David Smith took the C division with a comfortable 21-11, 23-21 win over Gerald Isaacs. Jahvaine Henry won the female equivalent, beating Jade-Ann Campbell 21-14, 21-6.

In the D division, Jamari Rose beat Miguel Powell 21-19, 21-13, while the female title went to Katherine Wynter, who defeated Kristi-Lee Stewart 21-11, 21-12.

Professor Rosalea Hamilton, UTech's vice-president of develop-ment, handed out the major awards at the end of the tournament.

Appreciation

The Jamaica Badminton Associa-tion also presented some badminton racquets to the institution to assist with its programmes, as a show of appreciation for what the college has done and continues to do for the sport.

This tournament was hailed as a welcome addition to the badminton calendar and the UTech organisers announced that the second of the three tournaments in this year's Challenge Series will take place from August 29-30.