As students around the country prepare for the upcoming Winter break, we bring you some highlights from the penultimate week of UK university sport in 2022.

Two more Championship events are in the books after yet another busy week of student sport transpired at universities across the UK.

Over 200 students travelled to the Orston Shooting Ground in Nottingham this past weekend to compete in the Clay Pigeon Shooting Championships. Set on a 53-acre facility, the world-class shooting venue welcomed some of the best student shooters at the UK university level.

The city of Nottingham also played host to the Individual Squash Championships, where over 500 matches were played during the three-day event. A grand total of 22 students from universities around the UK were crowned national champions after a thrilling weekend of squash.

UK university esports teams were also in action at the weekend as the Winter Championships concluded. Grand Finals of the National Student Esports (NSE) and National University Esports League (NUEL) was streamed live on Twitch as students faced off in a variety of games.

Read more in our latest update on UK university sport below.

UK University Squash Lights Up Nottingham

Friday 9th – Sunday 11th December

The BUCS Individual Squash Championships, which took place over the weekend, saw over 300 students compete over the course of the three-day event.

Students were divided into 8 different Grades (A-H) based on ability level prior to the start of the competition, with an overall winner being crowned for each Grade at the end of the tournament.

As well as an overall winner, any student that did not proceed past the first round was entered into a Plate competition which was played alongside the main tournament.

Grade A Winners

The two standout games of the championships were the hotly-contested Grade A finals, which featured world-ranked student squash players.

Elliott Morris Devred

Birmingham City University

Currently ranked 142nd in the world, Elliott defeated Stuart MacGregor (University of Birmingham) to become the 2022/23 National Champion.

Kiera Marshall

University of Birmingham

The University of Birmingham’s Kiera Marshall who is currently ranked 114th in the world defeated Wai Yhann Au Yeong to be crowned Women’s Individual Champion.

Grades B-H Overall Winners

Here is a full breakdown of the overall winners from each Grade.

Grade Men’s Champion Women’s Champion
B Campbell Wells
Birmingham
Annie Vaughan
Surrey
C Greg Butler
UWE
Jessica Shaw
Loughborough
D Luke Griffiths
Nottingham
Karla Jackson
Loughborough
E Jamie Harris
Durham
F Iona-Alexandru Herdea
Loughborough
G Benjamin Forster
Imperial 
H Chris Welch
Durham

With over 40 universities represented in this year’s Championships, the significant turnout demonstrates the rising popularity of squash among university students in the UK.

Learn more about UK university squash here.

Targets Acquired at Clay Pigeon Shooting Championships

Saturday 10th – Sunday 11th December

The 2022/23 Clay Pigeon Shooting Championships were held over the weekend in its first event of the season! 

Orston Shooting Ground in Nottingham was the setting for the two-day Championship event, as over 220 shooters from 17 UK universities competed to earn gold. 

Individual Winners

Angus Turnbull

Oxford Brookes University

Angus Turnbull of Oxford Brookes was crowned Men’s Individual Champion on Day One of the event after hitting an impressive 96 of 100 targets.

Faye Wills

Canterbury Christchurch

In the Women’s Individual Championships, Faye Wills successfully defended her title with a fantastic score of 86/100.

In the Team Championships, scores from the top four shooters were combined to give an overall total.

Oxford Brookes University were named Men’s Team Champions with an overall score of 371.

And with an overall score of 257, Harper Adams University were crowned overall Women’s Team Champions.

University Esports Winter Championships Concludes

The university Esports Winter Championships came to a sensational end last week as the National Student Esports (NSE) and National University Esports League (NUEL) held their Grand Finals.

BUEC Winter Finals 2022

The NSE is the official body of university esports in the UK and runs the British University Esports Championship (BUEC). The BUEC involves over 100 UK university teams as they compete throughout the year to claim the title of “Esports University of the Year”. 

This year’s BUEC Winter Finals did not disappoint as seven games held their Grand Finals including Dota 2, CS:Go, Rainbow 6 Siege, Rocket League, Overwatch 2, League of Legends, and Valorant.

Above: Final results from the BUEC Winter 2022 finals. The BUEC will be back with some more university action in the Spring.

National University Esports League

Meanwhile, in the NUEL, three winners were announced after the Grand Finals. 

The National University Esports League host the largest esports tournaments that UK universities can enter, and support hundreds of student social events across the country throughout the year.

Only six university teams make it to the finals, having played preliminary rounds in the two months prior. The two-day finals took place at Confetti X, a state-of-the-art facility that is linked with Nottingham Trent University.

This past weekend, Grand Finals took place in three games; Valorant, League of Legends, and Rocket League.

Learn more about UK university esport here.

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