SENIOR members of the Sale-Maffra Badminton Association were challenged at their most recent veterans tournament.

The local club travelled to central Victoria for the Eaglehawk/Bendigo Veterans Teams Championship, held August 5 and 6.

Having been promoted to Grade C1, the Roulettes went up against the Sunbury Magnificent 8, Murray Valley Gold and Boort Mixtures.

They suffered an early setback when their star female player, Kelly Nikolajew had to withdraw from the tournament at the last minute due to illness, but more than held their own against their competitors, winning two of their three rounds.

Greg French (left) prepares to hit a sky-high shuttle as doubles partner David Lord watches on. // Photo: Contributed

Fourteen of 24 games were won against Murray Valley at 107.45 per cent, and 16 of 24 against Sunbury at 117.49 per cent.

Their only loss came at the hands of the almighty Boort, being victors in just eight of the 24 games played at 83.3 per cent.

Nevertheless, their efforts were enough to secure second place in their grade.

Players in the team were Lenny Lyndon, David Lord, Greg French, Jamie Mitchell, Pam Swarbrick, Sandra McIntyre, Eliza McDiarmid, Junalyn Rachac and Lisa Lyndon.

The tournament took place across three venues in Bendigo: the Eaglehawk Badminton Stadium, Eaglehawk Secondary College, and St Liborius Primary School, all located in the north-west suburb of Eaglehawk.

Sale-Maffra played all of its games at the college.

All up, 22 Victorian clubs were represented at the event, with 36 teams spread across 11 grades of competition.

The next veterans tournament is scheduled to take place in Geelong on September 2 and 3.