A UNIVERSITY of Worcester student has the Commonwealth Games of 2018 firmly in his sights after winning a major badminton tournament.

Will Kitching, who is receiving support from the university’s athlete mentor programme, became the singles champion at the first Welsh satellite tournament of the year.

The Solihull teenager is settling into his first year studying for a sports coaching science degree.

He said: “It was fantastic to take the singles title at this first event.

“My long-term aim is to compete at the Commonwealth Games in 2018, which would be a massive achievement.

“Badminton is my whole life.”

The 18-year-old, a former student at Langley School in Solihull and Warwickshire College in Henley-in-Arden, started playing badminton at the age of 11 as both of his parents enjoyed the sport.

“I found I had a natural talent and just started competing and rising through the ranks,” Kitching said.

“I started at county and regional level.”

Kitching is a gold level scholar on the university’s sports scholarship programme for elite athletes.

As well as financial assistance, it gives him access to individual strength and conditioning sessions, fitness testing, sports therapy, nutrition and lifestyle workshops, sports psychology, performance analysis and high performance student athlete mentors.

The teenager is coached by Andy Hartley, who also teaches the university’s men’s badminton first team.

Hartley is considered to be one of the best badminton specialists in the country and has devoted his life to the development of the sport.

Kitching continued: “I hadn’t planned on going to university but Andy persuaded me that I should get some academic qualifications behind me.

“When I came to look at Worcester I was blown away by the facilities, including the Arena, and the excellent staff.

“I actually came to start using the facilities a full nine months before I officially started at the university, which was amazing.”

He added: “Juggling my training and competing with academic studies is quite difficult but my athlete mentor has been fantastic at helping me to plan and use my time well.”