Johnson overcomes the odds to claim singles title

ELENA JOHNSON has claimed her first titles of the season.

The Sarnian badminton star tasted double success at the Duchy of Cornwall Open in Redruth as she won the singles and doubles competitions.

Johnson's (pictured) victory in the individual event was particularly sweet as it came the hard way.

'Upon arrival I was a bit disappointed to see the draw, which struck me as quite bottom heavy - in my opinion the top three players were all in the bottom half of the draw,' she said.

England's number one, veteran Betty Blair, was the number one seed based on her many victories in the event previously and she was joined in the top half of the draw by fourth seed Heather Crump of Worcestershire.

Former England junior international, Bath University's Hana Littlecott of Hampshire was seeded two in the bottom half of the draw and Johnson was third seed.

'After a bye in the first round, I had three fairly comfortable wins to make it to the semi-final stage where I would face the winner of Hana Littlecott and Welsh international Vikki Jones. After a tough three-set battle, Hana scraped through,' Johnson said.