Pendleton Student Takes Stage at Dubai International Badminton Tournament

 

A student of Pendleton Sixth Form College, Anya Butterworth, has taken the final victory at 2025’s Dubai Para Badminton International tournament. Described as a “rising star,” Anya’s performance in the tournament represents a towering return to the stage after a hiatus away from the sport due to injury and the importance of her exams. For the past two years, Anya has been building, honing, and sharpening her skills in behind-the-scenes practise to prepare for the tournament—and it’s clear that the hard work has more than paid off.  

The tournament final saw Anya facing off against Ukraine’s Nina Kozlova, a fierce competitor in her own right and a good friend of Anya’s. In the end, the score was 21-18 21-16 in the women’s SH6 final, a closely won and incredibly tense final match. Anya has described the whirlwind of emotions which characterised the victory and said that she was “over the moon” with the final results. Over the course of the tournament, Anya did not drop a single game, taking first place with a clean slate.  

We at Pendleton are incredibly proud of Anya’s achievement and all the hard work she has put in to achieve this incredible victory. Nurturing the talent of students like this, inside and outside of the classroom, is a crucial part of the work we do with our students. Anya has seen a lot of success over the years in badminton, after entering “every sport” that she could in the Dwarf Sports Association at age nine. Balancing her studies with building her skills in the sport has been one of the biggest challenges she has faced—but has clearly overcome the challenge with incredible resilience.