FOR the first time in their history, the Leinster badminton team will play in the Premier A Division of the English Inter County Championship after winning promotion from the B Division in Manchester at the weekend.

Despite a defeat by Buckinghamshire, also promoted, on Saturday morning, a 6-4 victory over Hertfordshire in the afternoon was enough to ensure Leinster one of the two available promotion places.

The team, playing without their men's and women's number ones, Jim Colfor and Sonya McGinn, rounded off their successful inter county season with a 10-0 white washing of Middlesex yesterday.