Ursula Honour Smith married name Oakley (born 1934) is a former English international

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

player.

Early life

She lived at 'Fernleigh' 15 Brunswick Sq Herne Bay Kent from age of ten. She attended La Sainte Union RC school in Herne Bay. She attended the

University of Southampton The University of Southampton (abbreviated as ''Soton'' in post-nominal letters) is a public university, public research university in Southampton, England. Southampton is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universit ...

, where she played for the university badminton team, winning the UAU championship in December 1952 in the Victory Hall of Loughborough College. In 1956 she worked at

St George's Hospital St George's Hospital is a large teaching hospital in Tooting, London. Founded in 1733, it is one of the UK's largest teaching hospitals. It is run by the St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. It shares its main hospital site i ...

when at

The Lanesborough The Lanesborough is a 5-star hotel on Hyde Park Corner in Knightsbridge, central London, England. The hotel is operated by the Oetker Collection. It occupies the neoclassical former building of St George's Hospital, which is listed Grade II*. ...

at Hyde Park Corner, as a nurse. She visited France for 12 months in 1955 to learn French.

Badminton career

Smith was a winner of the

All England Open Badminton Championships The All England Open Badminton Championships is the world's oldest badminton tournament, held annually in England. With the introduction of the BWF's latest grading system, it was given Super Series status in 2007, upgraded to Super Series Premi ...

. She won the 1965 All England Open Badminton Championships women's singles. Smith competed in the

1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games The 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games were held in Kingston, Jamaica, from 4 to 13 August 1966. This was the first time that the Games had been held outside the so-called White Dominions. The event was followed by the 1966 Commonweal ...

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long spit (landform), sand spit which connects the town of Por ...

winning the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

in the women's doubles and

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...

in the singles. She represented Herne Bay and Kent.

Personal life

Smith has lived in South Africa since her marriage and then represented

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name ''Transvaal''. * South African Republic (1856–1902; ...

on the

squash Squash most often refers to: * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (plant), the fruit of vines of the genus ''Cucurbita'' Squash may also refer to: Sports * Squash (professional wrestling), an extr ...

court in provincial tournaments.

Achievements

Commonwealth Games

''Women's singles'' ''Women's doubles''

Asian Championships

''Women's singles'' ''Women's doubles'' ''Mixed doubles''

International tournaments (17 titles, 15 runners-up)

''Women's singles'' ''Women's doubles'' ''Mixed doubles''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Ursula Alumni of the University of Southampton English female badminton players 1934 births Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Commonwealth Games gold medallists in badminton Living people Badminton players at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games People from Herne Bay, Kent 20th-century English sportswomen